MKL's Dusty Bookshelf: Konoha Files
by MegaKiraraLover
Summary: A collection of old stories. Challenges/Idea-Dump. Included are: AU-Akatsuki in NarutoWorld, timetravelers, Kisame with a girlfriend, genetically engineered Akatsuki!kids, Sakura the Ancient/Cetra, Deidara as Demyx, Harry Potter reborn as Orochimaru, and more
1. MKL's Note

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize as being from a major series-mostly Naruto, but there are crossovers within this-is not mine.

This is my new Naruto Idea-Dump. I've seen lots of others do it, but have never bothered myself...but today I was going through my old flashdrive and found literally 15 crossovers I started and never finished...plus 10 regular stories...and that's just what showed up at first glance.

Um. Oops? -awkward laughter-

So if you were curious, here you go! I encourage any who wish to expand upon the ideas, take them for your own, take the first chapter and write your own story, consider the ideas challenges...et cetera.

**Just a few quick notes.**

1: These stories are pretty much never going to be expanded upon. Don't get your hopes up. If you want to have more, write it yourself! ;)

2: If a story IS expanded upon at any point, there will be a note added in the chapter title.

3: If you take up one of these stories, let me know! I'd love to read them! :D It'd be fun to see my half-baked ideas come to life~

4: Some of these stories are literally years old. The first one I'm throwing up is from mid-2011. Some of them are from as early as 2008. So yeah, please ignore any spelling/continuity problems. :P

5: Enjoy!

-MKL, signing out.


	2. The Brothers Grim

The Brothers Grim

Summary: Alternate Universe Deidara and Tobi-the Anima brothers Daniel and Tobias/Toby, from our world-end up in the Naru-verse.

_Chapter One_

When Daniel woke up, he almost instantly knew it was going to be a bad day—first because of the migraine building behind his eyes, then because his poor scars were throbbing with phantom pains, and finally because memories flooded his mind and retold the events of the day before.

In an instant, Daniel was sitting up, eyes wide and ignoring the dizziness that threatened him. Then his head throbbed again and he winced pathetically.

"Ugh, my head..." he muttered, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead with one hand as the other held him upright. The dizziness passed just as a shadow fell over Daniel, causing him to slowly blink before he raised his gaze and caught sight of—

"Holy shit!" the blond exclaimed, jerking back and widening his eyes further. The person whom happened to look like him in his Deidara cosplay, only with actual tattoos around his eyes (there was none of the cakiness caused by face paint or eyeliner or anything similar) and a much more authentic costume, was glaring at him darkly with arms crossed over his chest and a rather dangerous gleam to his expression.

"Well, woke up, yeah?" asked the Deidara cosplayer with a sneer. Almost instantly, Daniel narrowed his eyes in a glare as he fought off the creepiness factor. Dark sarcasm dripped off his words when he spoke.

"Actually I'm sleeptalking. No duh, dipshit!"

The Deidara cosplayer/look-alike's eye twitched and he reached down to roughly grab Daniel by the front of his shirt, dragging the boy to his feet, then lifting him a bit so that the toes of his shoes barely skimmed the ground. Daniel couldn't help the deer-in-the-headlights look that resulted from the action.

"What the hell did you just call me, un?" the look-alike growled, a dark and self-satisfied smirk twisting his lips as he took in Daniel's expression. Daniel recovered enough to snarl.

"What, you deaf as well as stupid?" he demanded. His fear was masked successfully behind his rude words and abrasive personality, the look-alike's eyes narrowing and a snarl covering his face, as well. He looked ready to hit Daniel, but before he could—

"Senpai!" chirped a Tobi cosplayer as he jumped into view, causing Daniel to flinch violently and the look-alike to nearly drop the teen in his surprise. The Tobi tilted his masked face curiously after he took in the scene before him. "Um...Senpai? Why're you hurting the pretty lady?"

Daniel's face was red in an instant. "I'M A BOY, YOU MORON!"

The Tobi tilted his head further and Daniel could just picture the smirk despite the fact that it wasn't in the man's voice when he spoke. "Oops. Um, sorry, not-Senpai."

The look-alike snickered at the confusion before Daniel rounded his aggression on him. "You shouldn't be laughing, dipshit," the art major sneered with a glimmer of malice in his eyes. "Or are you too stupid to realize ya look like me?"

Snickering turned back into snarling and the look-alike actually did punch Daniel this time, letting go as he did so and sending Daniel tumbling ankles-over-ass into the ground. A dark smirk crossed the Deidara's face as Daniel twitched violently on the ground.

"Oops," he said sarcastically, folding his arms over his chest and gazing down at Daniel's face-down form with a look of superiority. "Sorry, _not-Senpai_."

Feeling more pissed off than he had in a while, Daniel lifted his face from the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood, tongue dabbing at a cut on the side of his mouth. He paused a moment to survey any more damage before he climbed slowly and painfully to his feet, feeling the pull on the barely-healed wounds from that fight he was in last week. A dangerous, completely empty glare was quickly leveled on the Deidara.

"Don't fuck with me," he said in a voice without emotion. The look-alike seemed surprised by his sudden deadpan tone before, suddenly, Daniel remembered—

"Shit! Toby!" he shouted, whirling away from the two cosplayers (who exchanged looks behind his back, the Deidara's doubt/surprise clearly visible) and glancing frantically around the clearing. Another curse escaped his throat and he abruptly ran toward the forest, stopped short by a hand grabbing the back of his shirt this time. Daniel instantly started thrashing in the grip. "What the fuck!? Get _off_ me! I have to go find Toby!"

"Tobi who?" the Deidara drawled. Daniel glanced over his shoulder and glowered at the man and his annoying eyebrow-quirk.

"None of your business, dipshit! Now let me go before I—"

"Dannie?" a familiar voice asked. All at once, Daniel relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief as the bushes in front of him rustled before depositing his little brother into the clearing, large brown-black eyes blinking innocently and child-like face twisted in an expression of relief and confusion.

"Thank god," Daniel sighed, easily yanking his shirt from the Deidara's suddenly slackened grip before he walked over to Toby. Worry shined in his blue eyes as he hurriedly ran his hands down the younger boy's arms, looking him over for injuries at the same time. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Toby blinked, then smiled brilliantly and shook his head. "Nope! Not at all, Dannie!"

Daniel once more breathed a sigh before abruptly his expression hardened and he gripped Toby's shoulders, shaking him roughly but with much more care than he would if it were anyone else. "You idiot, DON'T freak me out like that again!" he shouted angrily. Toby, his head jerking forward and back like a ragdoll's, said something that sounded like an agreement before Daniel abruptly let go, sending the raven-haired boy tumbling to the ground.

"Owww...Dannie, you made my head hurt!" Toby complained with a pout up at his brother. Daniel scoffed and folded his arms over his chest, glancing away only for his gaze to land on the wide-eyed Deidara and the unreadable Tobi. After a beat, Toby recovered enough to slowly stand, his own bright eyes landing on the two next to them.

"Whoa!" Toby cried, jumping back dramatically before ducking to hide behind Daniel. A wail escaped his throat before he began to whine, "D-Dannie, PLEASE tell me we're not in one of those lame self-insert fanfictions like the kind Kay and Sammy and Sey like to write...!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Daniel snarled, hitting Toby over the head with just enough force to stun him for a second. "This is real life, yeah? That means that there's no way that'd happen!"

Toby pouted pathetically and rubbed his head. "Dannie, that wasn't very nice..."

A huff was his only response.

**_-Madara's Counterpart Appears-_**

There was a pause, and then—

"M-Matt...?" breathed Toby in disbelief, eyes wide as he took a hurried step back. Matthew smirked a rather unhinged smirk and nodded.

"Tobias," he greeted plainly, the malice under his words causing Toby to let out a rather unmanly shriek before hiding behind Daniel. The elder of the two had a thunderous expression on his face, a kunai resting loosely but carefully in his good hand.

"What the hell are you doing here, Matthew?" Daniel spat, making sure the wad of saliva and a bit of blood from his split lip landed on Matthew's pants above his knee. The twenty-six-year-old didn't seem to notice the gross concoction as he snickered darkly.

"I'd think that obvious, Anima. I'm here to finish what I started seven years ago."

Daniel's eyes widened before he snarled angrily, dropping into an offensive stance and protectively shifting so that he was almost completely covering the whimpering Toby. "The fuck you are! I'm not letting you _near_ Toby!"

"Oh, so you think you, a pathetic little teenager, can best a man nearly nine years your senior?" drawled Matthew. A sudden, stuttering and slightly high-pitched laugh escaped Matthew's throat as he tossed his long mane of hair over his shoulder. There was a twisted grin on his face when he finished. "Good luck with that, Anima! I'll easily kill you along with my little brother. Then at least you won't be lonely tonight...in hell!"

Matthew suddenly lunged forward, knife in hand; Toby let out a bloodcurdling scream; Daniel cursed loudly before lifting up his own kunai to catch the knife. He quickly shoved Toby back, dancing away from Matthew, but the slight delay used to get the younger boy to safety was his downfall; Matthew, lightning-fast, slashed Daniel's arm with his knife. Toby let out another scream and stared, wide-eyed, as Daniel yelled out in pain and dropped to the ground. A curse escaped his lips, shouted and strained, while Matthew's unhinged grin widened. He lunged forward once more, knife raised above his head—

A clang was heard as, suddenly, a man in an Akatsuki cloak was between Daniel and his attacker. The blond wasn't quite sure he believed it when he lifted his gaze to find none other than Tobi/Madara standing there, having slashed Matthew's hand with a deadly kunai in a lightning-quick move, which forced him to drop the knife.

"Fucking—" Matthew cursed, pulling back while cradling his bleeding fingers with his free hand.

"You shouldn't attack without knowing everyone who could interfere with your fight," Madara's deep voice issued from behind Tobi's ridiculous mask, the man standing in a loose fighting position. Daniel, cradling the slash on his arm, nearly had a heart attack, although he was soon distracted by Toby's arms wrapping around his stomach to clutch him tightly. Daniel merely leaned back to make sure Toby knew he was responsive and fine as the confrontation continued.

Matthew's expression twisted for a moment into shock before cold fury settled over his features. A hiss escaped his throat, sounding rather like a cat.

_**-BACK IN ORIGINAL WORLD WITH AKATSUKI-**_

Their conversation was cut off when the front door slammed open and a figure rushed inside, ducking behind Daniel almost instantly. There was a collective blink from the Akatsuki while Toby snickered and Daniel put on a look of long-suffering resignation.

"Hello, Yadid," he greeted blankly. The figure, which had previously been bent over quite a bit to completely hide behind the diminutive eighteen-year-old, rose just enough for shaggy orange-red hair and bright brown-blue eyes to be visible within a familiar, but lightly tanned face.

"Hey, Daniel," greeted Yadid with a sheepish grin as he raised his head enough to reveal the rest of his expression. "Er...it isn't what it looks like?"

Daniel quirked a brow, folding his arms over his chest as he looked over his shoulder, not bothering to move beyond that. "Oh, so then you're not hiding out in my apartment 'cause you did something to piss off Kaylee and-or Nathanial? _Again_?"

Yadid paused once, then let out a rather nervous chuckle. "O-kaaay...so it's exactly what it looks like."

For his part, Daniel merely rolled his eyes before swiftly side-stepping, screwing up Yadid's center of gravity and sending him falling to the floor with a loud, "Oof!" Then he pathetically whined about Daniel being an asshole, which the younger pointedly ignored.

"So what did you do this time?" Daniel boredly asked. Yadid paused mid-way through standing again, then once more gave that sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well..." he muttered rather quietly, "I..._may_ have made a comment about Kaylee's weight..."

Even the Akatsuki members flinched at the thought of insulting a woman's weight, let alone the weight of one who was Konan in another universe, but Daniel and Toby stared at Yadid with such horror it was like the man was already dead.

"HOLY SHIT, YOU MADE A COMMENT ABOUT A FUCKIN' PREGNENT WOMAN'S WEIGHT!?"

Daniel's screech echoed ominously for the Akatsuki, but the blond was too busy chewing out Yadid to notice.

"You have a death wish! I mean, holy shit, that's the dumbest thing you've EVER done, Yadid! I mean, obviously you're an idiot, but that sounds like something Harrison would do, yeah?! Your survival instincts are DEAD, Yadid, DEAD! Do you hear me, you imbecile? DEAD—LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO BE WHEN KAYLEE AND NATHANIAL GET A HOLD OF YOU!"

By this point, Daniel was practically strangling Yadid, who had a look of regret and rising horror on his face. Their little show was interrupted, however, when Toby suddenly started laughing, causing both of the men to turn and give him incredulous (and, for Daniel, slightly annoyed) looks.

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-14-13): So yeah. That was a thing I wrote. It was written with one of my favorite theories in mind, which is that Madara basically helped Obito survive his rockfall in exchange for temporary control of his/their body in the future-a timeshare, if you will-the downside of which being that Obito was regressed to an earlier age in development from the earlier brain damage and remembered little of his past. I used this theory/headcannon a lot in my older stories, actually. Then the Shinobi War thing started and that completely died...

SPOILERS: Toby was adopted by the Animas after his elder brother, Matt (their universe's Madara), had a psychotic break and killed not only their parents but also his aunt and uncle (Itachi/Isadiah and Sasuke/Seth Ustulavi's parents) before going after Toby. Luckily the neighbors had called the police so he was stopped. Daniel, who had been friends with Toby for years, convinced his parents rather easily to adopt Toby. The two both went off to college together, which is where they were when the story starts, and met the rest of the Akatsuki counterparts. (They can be identified by the first letter of their names: Daniel=Deidara, Toby=Tobi, Matthew=Madara, Yadid=Yahiko, etc.) Matt had found his way to the Naruto universe with the help of Orochimaru, who had been practicing a dimension-crossing technique based upon old scrolls detailing Madara's Sharingan powers (irony~), and that same technique is what would have brought Daniel and Toby to their universe earlier and later would send them and the Akatsuki back to their own universe. All of the AU-Akatsuki were Narutards of varying degrees, with Daniel, Toby, and Kaylee being the worst and Ken (Kisame) and Zack (Zetsu) being the least interested. ...and that's all I have, aside from the names, hahaha.

Nagato - Nathanial "Nate" Valentine 21 piercing artist/substitute teacher  
Yahiko - Yadid "Ya" Valentine 21 guitarist/"between jobs"  
Konan - Kaylee "Kay" Valentine 21 culture&religion teacher  
Kisame - Kenith "Ken"/"Kenny" Pisces 19 aquarium guide  
Itachi - Isadiah "Isa"/"Iz"/"Izzy" Ustulavi 17 police-in-training  
Kakuzu - Kurtus "Kurt" Downes 20 accountant/tattooing artist  
Hidan - Harrison Johnson 19 catholic pastor  
Zetsu - Zack 22 XXX (has MPD, sort of)  
Sasori - Samual "Sam"/"Sammy" Semper 23 plastic surgeon  
Deidara - Daniel "Dan"/"Dannie" Anima 18 college for medicine/art  
Tobi - Tobias "Toby"/"Tobi" Ustulavi(-Anima) 16 senior  
Madara - Matthew "Matt" Ustulavi 26 imprisioned  
Orochimaru - Oscar "Grouch" Seto 25 kindergarden teacher

Sasuke - Seth "Sey"(say) Ustulavi 15 sophomore  
Ino - Isabelle "Belle"/"Iz" Anima 15 freshman  
Naruto - Nathanial "Nathan" Valentine-Blitz 15 freshman  
Tsunade - Theresa Seto 24 school nurse  
Jiraiya - Jacob ? 25 substitute teacher/writer(ofporn)


	3. KHNaru: Organization Akatsuki

_Organization _**Akatsuki**

Summary: For years, Demyx has been hiding within the fantasy personality he built around himself, unknowing at the time he made it how long he would be staying with the mysterious "Organization XIII." But when an old kohai—an old partner—an old _friend_ appears during one of the most boring meetings he has been privy to since being recruited, his ties are pulled into two different directions. Will Demyx stick with the new, safer life he has built with the Organization? Or will he fall back to his old, more familiar ways within the dreaded and feared Akatsuki...? **Somebody!Story** **Possible!Yaoi** pre-KH, pre-War, manga-based, slightly twisted canon

**Episode Zero - Existence of Nothing**

Demyx remembered damn well when he first got recruited into the Organization nearly two years before. He had just died (as far as he knew) in the most explosive way he knew was possible, only to wake up with a horrible pain throughout his body seemingly centered upon his chest wearing only a black cloak made of leather that was much too ungainly to fight in with any sort of realistic power.

Only a few seconds passed with silent confusion before the thought made it through his mind that he was _supposed to be dead_ and he lunged into a sitting position, expertly using his chakra to prevent a head rush or any other undesirable results from such an action. Blue eyes suspiciously scanned the area their owner was in, a simple section of grass with forest on three sides and, on the final side, a wrought-iron gate twisting into the sky in front of a rather nice-looking but broken down tan mansion. No chakra signatures nearby, and no obvious signs of people having been there rec—

"Hello," a deep, somewhat amused voice not unlike Hiruko's greeted in a slow drawl. The blue-eyed man was on his feet in an instant, hands held in a taijutsu position native to his old village and staring openly at the other man, who had shining silver hair, tan skin, an angular yet smooth face, and golden eyes that reminded Blue-Eyes of a cat. The stranger observed him in silence for a moment before inclining his head just slightly in acknowledgement. "I am known as Xemnas. May I ask for your name?"

For a few minutes, Blue-Eyes just stared at 'Xemnas'. Foreign name, right. Judging by the scenery, foreign area, as well. Undercover would probably be best here. Thus it was that the younger of the two laughed nervously and dropped his stance, rubbing at the back of his neck like he had seen Tobi do about a thousand times before as a sheepish grin crossed his face.

"Sorry," he apologized as sincerely as he could fake, "I'm, ah, just...confused. Um, I'm Diehm. Nice to meet you?"

The alias was one that 'Diehm' had used before, often when he was undercover, as was the personality. It was his default and one that generally worked out rather well: Confused blue-eyed man with a nervous/mildly childish personality and shaky shinobi training to explain the battle know-how that could never be completely erased.

Xemnas, for his part, looked over Diehm carefully before he turned his gaze to a spot just over Diehm's head. There was a noticeable tensing of Diehm's muscles when silvery see-through characters appeared, not kanji, but the romanji that few people in the Hidden Villages knew how to read, consisting of the letters "D-y-m-e".

Diehm remained silent, assuming that was how this odd place would spell his name based upon pronunciation, and watched with false awe but hidden suspicion as an "X" drifted down into the midst of the letters. The letters swirled with the stylized "X" in the middle, twisting above both his and Xemnas's heads, and eventually settled in a new order.

D-e-m-y-x.

"Demyx," read Xemnas aloud before turning his attention to Diehm, who blinked with wide, confused-looking eyes at the man. "That...is your new name."

Thus Number IX of Organization XIII, Demyx, the Melodious Nocturne, was given a new life.

_**OMAKE  
**__**Dyme or Diehm?**_

There was a noticeable tensing of Diehm's muscles when silvery see-through characters appeared, not kanji, but the romanji that few people in the Hidden Villages knew how to read, consisting of the letters "D-y-m-e".

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to spell?" Diehm suddenly asked, glaring at the floating letters. Xemnas, startled, blinked in surprise at the blond.

"...Dyme...?" he ventured with much more hesitation than he should have considering the fact that he was the leader of one of the most powerful groups in the Universe. Diehm instantly growled and pointed at the lettering.

"Not 'Dyme', you idiot! '_Diehm_'! D-I-E-H-M; Diehm! 'Die' with 'hm' after it! Don't you get the point of foreshadowing at _all_? Goddamn, and people on fanfiction say that _my_ KH self is stupid!"

And with that, Diehm stalked away, muttering about annoying silver-haired assholes and stupid authors as Xemnas blinked stupidly at his back.

-.-.-.-.-

**Episode One - Past Returning**

A frustrated sigh escaped Demyx's lips as he laid back on his bed in The Castle That Never Was, his breath blowing away a stray strand of dirty blond hair too dark for his tastes. The memory of the day he was found by (cue sarcasm) _Lord Superior_ (end sarcasm) was a horrid one now that set the stage so he'd be forced to pretend to be a subservient, sniveling idiot for _way_ too long. It was his fault, of course, since he was stupid enough to take on the personality of Diehm of all choices, but how was _he_ supposed to know Demyx would stay with the Organization for two damned years?

Blue eyes closed as Demyx tried to reel in his anger before his chakra sprang out of control. It had grown exponentially in the span of two years, nearly as large as the chakra that leaked off of Ichibi no Shukaku's Jinchuuriki, the whatever-th Kazekage. That train of thought quickly brought him to wonder what, exactly, was happening back in his home world, whether or not the war was still continuing, whether or not his remaining comrades were still alive, whether or not his...his kohai was still alive...

A grimace covered Demyx's face and he sat up, running his hand through his too-short hair and giving another frustrated sigh. He really didn't have the time to think about those things. There was a meeting soon, if he wasn't mistaken, and he needed to be there for whatever reason.

Probably because, much like Leader-sama, _Lord Superior_ liked boring his subordinates to death instead of letting enemy ninjas kill them.

Hmph.

Just as Demyx was climbing to his feet, there was a knock at the door and Luxord's well-cultured voice courteously said, "Just wanted to remind you, Demyx, that there is a meeting in ten minutes within The Room Where Nothing Gathers—on the floor, not on those utterly ridiculous thrones, thank our lucky stars."

Quickly plastering on his cover personality, Demyx laughed nervously and made a show of making too much noise before yanking open the door with a sheepish smile.

"Um, thanks, Luxord," he said with false graciousness. "I kinda forgot."

The bold-faced lie, one of many, went undetected as always even as Luxord gave Demyx a long look. Then, quite suddenly, the elder blond said, "I suggest you trust your instincts in the days to come."

Slowly, Demyx blinked, his mind whirring with the words Luxord had spoken as he followed the elder blond to the meeting room stupidly named The Room Where Nothing Gathers. It wasn't often that Luxord gave advice about the future, usually because he knew probably better than anyone else that it wasn't set in stone, so every bit he did reveal was practically treated as a law.

But why would Demyx have to trust his instincts? The whole entire point of the last two years was that he was _acting_, and, thus, trusting his instincts almost solely on personalities to read the situation and act accordingly. Was something going to happen that wasn't natural? But what could it be? Only Nobodys and Heartless could find their way through the Corridors of Darkness to The World That Never Was without some form of help...could there be a new one appearing? An enemy? An ally? Someone in the grey?

Upon arriving in The Room Where Nothing Gathers, Demyx tore himself from his thoughts and stood with (mostly) false apprehension at the base of his throne, gaze darting about the room more out of habit than honest nervousness. It seemed everyone was there but Axel and Roxas, who were almost always late because Axel was a huge prick and Roxas didn't know better, and Saïx, who was silently elected as the person who would wait until everyone else had arrived before closing the door.

"Wonder what this's about," Luxord muttered conversationally to Demyx from not too far away. The younger blond glanced over and lifted his shoulder in a shrug, his act keeping a deer-in-the-headlights look in place at the question.

"E-er...we found the Keyblader?" he offered in a higher pitched voice than his real one. The genjutsu-henge combination he used always served to shock him back into reality in case he was caught off-guard by something, since it automatically fell into place whenever an Organization member was close enough. That little safeguard took a few months of almost nonstop study to perfect, but hell was it useful.

Luxord was kind enough not to laugh at the stupid comment that he didn't know was said on purpose, but on the gambler's other side Marluxia had no such problems and chuckled condescendingly as Larxene giggled and Xigbar snerked. Xaldin pinched the bridge of his nose with a look of long-suffering resignation and Vexen just rolled his eyes.

Demyx pouted and folded his arms over his chest, lowering his gaze to the floor and his voice to a mutter. "Hey, it's possible, u..h, right?"

"Of course it is, little dude," Xigbar called from across the room with a condescending grin in place. Demyx's eyelid twitched without his consent (his skills at deception were degrading rather than improving over time...), but instead of protesting he merely gave his best nervous smile. Any further conversation was halted as Axel and Roxas sauntered in, Axel smirking at Xemnas while Roxas merely seemed blank (as usual). Saïx was not too far behind.

"Good...we have all arrived," drawled Xemnas, causing Demyx to mentally groan as he always did.

_'Yeah, we didn't know that—y'know, because we have no eyes?'_ the blond thought dryly.

"Now it is time to start the meeting."

_'Obviously, dumbass. Although I wouldn't put it past you to prolong the torture a bit longer.'_

"The main concern of this is the fact that a new planet has come to our attention."

More than one face was pulled, and all the Neophytes groaned with the exception of Saïx, who never complained aloud, and Demyx, who joined in mentally rather than literally. The most boring meetings ever to be in were ones where a new planet was recently discovered; they involved long lectures on what to expect from those planets, the asking of whether any member had heard of it before, the interrogation of any member who even hinted to knowing something...overall, the best way to describe such meetings was "long and tedious".

Keeping up a sarcastic and occasionally violent commentary in his head, Demyx stared with a look of false attention in Xemnas's direction even as his eyes glazed over and his mind drifted elsewhere. He was about to the point where he was going to chance ruining his cover to glance hurriedly at Luxord for some sign of what time it was when something of interest finally happened.

It was by pure chance that Demyx happened to notice Xigbar stiffening and looking up somewhere above everyone's head. The blond instantly followed the man's gaze, and his own eyes widened in shock when he saw the air twisting and shimmering unnaturally...and familiarly...

Larxene's piercing shriek of surprise brought the others' attention to the area, and thus it was that everyone in the Organization watched as a figure shifted into view before the space suddenly stopped twisting, leaving the figure floating for a long moment. Then it suddenly collapsed onto the floor, its tattered black and red cloak obscuring a good portion of its tattered and bloody form. Black hair spiked upward was all that could be seen of the figure's head before a sudden groan escaped.

Demyx could only stiffen and stare with wide eyes when the figure's head suddenly turned, revealing a pale male face mostly hidden with a partially-shattered orange mask, a single red eye with three commas twirling as it locked with his own. "Sen...pai..." the man managed to grit out between stuttering breaths. Then the eye shuddered in its socket before rolling into the back of the man's head, leaving him passed out on the floor.

It was this word that snapped Demyx out of his shock and he found himself at the man's side before he could stop himself, yanking a glove off with his teeth before pressing his hand urgently against the man's throat. He nearly sagged with relief when he felt a pulse, but the fact that it was so faint and that the man's breath was becoming increasingly ragged distracted him from that and reaffirmed the seriousness of the situation. Panic began to grip at Demyx's chest and he fumbled through two quick handseals.

"Shosen Jutsu!" he hissed, slamming the ungloved hand directly into the gaping hole that appeared to go through the man's chest. Bright blue-brown-green energy shimmered before closing the wound with an agonizing slowness, sweat dotting Demyx's brow with the effort of keeping up an unfamiliar jutsu. This was actually only the fourth or fifth time using it, and it showed; the chakra around his hand kept flickering with higher and lower power, and every so often the healing would stop until Demyx literally growled and fixed his chakra flow.

Nearly three full, painful minutes later, the near-fatal wound finally healed and Demyx let the jutsu fade out of existence. The blond swooned and nearly fell over, but managed to contain himself and scan the man for other injuries. It wasn't until he had just about deemed the man healthy enough to move that he was distracted from reality—by someone rather loudly clearing his throat.

Two straight years of acting made Demyx's back instantly stiffen and his shoulders hunch even though his mind was completely unafraid and even scoffed the idea of someone in the Organization being able to injure him. He glanced at the throat-clearer, a narrow-eyed Xaldin, with a rather neutral expression.

"Um, I'm kinda busy here," the blond told him in his sweetest voice, mentally smirking when the larger man's eye twitched dangerously. "There's kinda this guy...um...I was going to take care of him so he didn't die before...interrogation?"

The questioning tone was put on as Demyx quickly fell back into his act now that he knew the man was in no immediate danger of dying. A nervous expression easily fell into place and he rubbed the fingers of his now-bloody and ungloved hand together as the others fiddled with a corner of the man's coat, subtly bowing his head as well. Suspicion shifted away from a few members' eyes, with the notable exceptions of the Original Six, Saïx, and Marluxia.

"Perhaps," drawled Xemnas slowly, still resting his unnerving gaze on Demyx as the blond forced a flinch at the somewhat dark tone, "you have chosen the best course of action, Demyx. It is imperative that we find out how this...man..." (within his mind, Demyx twitched in part-amusement) "...has arrived in our castle without being overcome by the Darkness."

Ducking his head in false bashfulness, Demyx mentally cursed himself as he realized how many people were still staring at him. Clearly he had blown part if not most of his cover away. This wasn't what he wanted to happen...but...

_"Trust your instincts in the days to come."_

Luxord's words rang in Demyx's ears and he continued to put on his act as Xemnas continued the meeting, a secret smirk dancing in the young man's eyes. Maybe there was something to Luxord's words after all.

.-.-.-.-.

It wasn't for another twenty or so hours that the man finally woke up, even with Demyx lounging at his bedside occasionally coaxing the man's chakra into helping heal him more quickly. He was midway through directing chakra to a deep and still mostly-unhealed wound on his arm when eyes so dark brown they were nearly black flickered, the previously-unconscious man letting out a low moan of pain. Demyx instantly stopped what he was doing and stared with curiosity and hope at the man, who blinked a few times to gain some sort of focus.

For a long moment, there was silence, the man staring blankly at the ceiling and Demyx staring intently at him.

"...am I dead?" the man eventually muttered aloud, his voice much deeper than Demyx had ever heard it until the day before. "I..." He closed his eyes and seemed pained. "Must be. Either that or insane."

"Why would you be insane?" asked Demyx with a faint tone of amusement, chin resting in his ungloved palm. He was partially hunched over, his hair falling into his face even more than usual due to lack of hair gel, sitting cross-legged on a wooden chair with his elbows on his knees.

The man made a noise of distress; "I thought I saw—"

And then suddenly stopped, opened his eyes, and turned his head to stare with shocked black orbs at Demyx.

The blond smirked and gave an absent wave with his free hand. "Hiya," he greeted.

There was a pause.

And then

"SENPAI!" squeaked the man in a much more familiar voice, eyes going wide with innocence before Demyx was promptly half-tackled in a flying hug. An "ack!" escaped his throat and he had to pinwheel his arms to keep both of them from tumbling over the back of the chair he had been sitting in, all while keeping himself breathing as best he could while within the killer hug and interpreting the following:

"OHMYGAWDSENPAIIMISSEDYOUSOMUCHIHAVENTSEENYOUINLIK ETWOYEARSWHEREHAVEYOUBEEN ITHOUGHTYOUWEREDEADBUTYOUREHEREBUTTHENIMUSTBEDEADC AUSETHATSTHEONLYWAYIDSEEYOUAGAIN AND IMISSEDYOOOOUUUUUUUUSEEEEEENNNNNNNNNPAAAAAAAIIIIII IIII!"

("Oh my god! Senpai! I missed you so much! I haven't seen you in, like, two years! Where have you been? I thought you were dead! But you're here! But then I must be dead 'cause that's the only way I'd see you again! And! I missed yoooouuuuuuuu seeeeeennnnnnnnnpaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii!")

"GODDAMMIT TOBI, GET THE _FUCK_ OFF OF ME!" was Demyx's loud response as he shoved at the black-haired man. In moments, Tobi was off of Demyx and grinning like a loon, hands clasped behind his back as he bounced on his heels. A few semi-calming breaths later, Demyx felt safe enough to talk without yelling at and/or strangling his kohai moments later.

"You're not dead," Demyx began slowly. "You haven't seen me in two years because _I_, technically, died. And I think the better question" (the anger exercises obviously failed since Demyx was quickly becoming pissed off again) "is where have _you_ been, you grinning idiot, yeah! Why the hell didn't you come get me sooner?!"

Tobi pouted and drew back into himself, gazing at Demyx with partly-amused partly-chastised eyes. "Tobi didn't know where you were!" he complained loudly. "How was Tobi supposed to find you? This was an accident!"

"An accident?" Demyx calmed himself in moments and gazed calculatingly at Tobi, who suddenly had an uneasy expression. "Uh, what do you mean an 'accident'? You can't get to The World That Never Was without some idea of where it is, yeah?"

Slowly, Tobi tilted his head, his own eyes turning calculating as well. But his voice was still innocently cheerful when he continued to speak. "'The World That Never Was'? Where's that, senpai? And why can't you get there without knowing where it is?"

"Because you need to know where a place is to get there," deadpanned Demyx. He watched a flash of irritation behind the pouting of his kohai, hidden deep within the other man's dark eyes as if it were an unconscious reaction, while the conscious reaction was Tobi pouting again.

"Senpaaaaiii," he whined pathetically. Demyx just smiled faintly and shook his head, finding the unfamiliar familiarity comforting. "I'm serious!"

"So am I, yeah?"

Tobi suddenly turned his pout into an honest, concerned frown, still-innocently-wide eyes staring at Demyx curiously. "Senpai...why do you keep doing that?"

Demyx slowly blinked, his smile falling in confusion. "Doing...what?"

"Turning everything into a question when you say 'yeah'!" the ravenette whined, as if the answer should have been obvious. (Truth be told, it was to any shinobi or even highly observant civilian.) "And you keep saying 'uh' like you're nervous instead of 'un'! It's really weird!"

"That's what happens when you're forced to stay undercover for nearly two years," Demyx half-snarled, half-sighed, unable to be completely upset with his old partner after not seeing him for so long. Or maybe he had just gotten out most of his anger when shouting earlier. Who knew? "Turns out I had to stay as 'Diehm' for however long I've been here, but 'Lord Superior'" (the contempt dripping from his voice showed just what Demyx thought about his new leader) "insisted I'm now 'Demyx'. Which is stupid and completely unmanly, yeah. What kinda name is 'Demyx'?"

Tobi instantly perked up and grinned. "It's a cool one, like 'Tobi'! And it's got that weird Romanji in it...um...'x'? Right? Right?" Demyx merely nodded, causing Tobi to cheer and pump a fist in the air. "Yay, Tobi's smart!"

Again, a slow smile spread across Demyx's face, probably unnoticeable by the casual observer. He didn't want to admit it, but he had really missed the bundle of idiocy known as Tobi...or not-so-idiocy. Speaking of which—

"Tobi, what happened to your mask?" Demyx suddenly asked, a serious expression slipping into place.

In an instant, Tobi froze, staring with wide eyes at Demyx before his hands rapidly flew to his face. He worriedly traced long, aristocratic features before his fingers stopped on his chin, still staring at Demyx in disbelief. Then he let out a rather unmanly squeak/shriek and covered his face, peeking between his fingers worriedly at Demyx as he rapidly shook his head.

"Don't look, Senpai!" the ravenette said in an even higher pitched voice, which made Demyx internally wince. Tobi's masculinity was rapidly declining despite his distinctly masculine looks. Poor guy. Demyx knew the feeling. "Don't look at Tobi's face, pleeaaaassse?"

"Why, un?" drawled Demyx lightly, repositioning himself the same way he had been sitting before he'd been tackle-hugged earlier. He absently noted when Tobi's eyes betrayed his incredulousness and, way behind that, suspicion. "Because I'll know you're an Uchiha? Or because I'll be able to identify you if someone goes to interrogate me about who you _really_ are...Tobi?"

The Akatsuki-turned-Nobody barely batted an eyelash when the normal Tobi suddenly became eclipsed by a much darker caricature of himself, hands finding their way around Demyx's admittedly frail neck and leaning in dangerously. Brown-black eyes flickered before turning into three-tomoe Sharingan, obviously looking for any sign of danger or a lie.

"I should kill you," Tobi—who wasn't really Tobi anymore—said in that deep voice he had been using earlier. Demyx snorted, completely unaffected by the precarious position he was in and instead quirking a brow at the somewhat-unknown Uchiha.

"And lose an ally, and your 'Senpai', which would upset Tobi so much you might be unable to function?" he said in an irritatingly calm tone. He saw the way not-Tobi faltered ever so slightly, and the worry of both beings in the body was almost palpable. "Besides, we both know you secretly like me, Uchiha-san, yeah?"

There was a long, pregnant pause, during which Demyx easily noted the way not-Tobi's back was stiff in disbelief and thoughts whirled through the man's eyes. He merely smirked faintly when not-Tobi finally drew his hands away with a slowness that would probably make another person, shinobi or not, flinch.

When the man's hands were back at his side, he continued observing Demyx closely for a too-long period of time.

"...how?" was the simple question. But it was more than enough for Demyx, whose faint smirk widened.

"I'm not an idiot, un," he said with a shrug, his chin once again in his palm now that there were no arms blocking that from happening. "I'm a prodigy, like Itachi, only better because I didn't have to cheat to get there." Not-Tobi had a look of slight disbelief, but Demyx pressed on easily. "I noticed you sometimes act completely different than usual, and you disappeared for long times when, coincidently, Leader-sama and Konan-sama were nowhere to be found. Not only that, but you talk to yourself—and you talk in your sleep. You should work on that, yeah? Normally it's just Tobi talking, but sometimes you do, as well, Uchiha-san.

"The first few times I just put it down to mental instability—Akatsuki thing, the usual—but then your talks with yourself got...weird, un. Things 'about Juubi' and not getting 'attached' and not interrupting, well, yourself when talking to 'Pein'. And it got weirder sometimes, too; like Tobi'd wake up from a nightmare and you'd start talking out of his mouth and take over so he could rest without dreams. Don't know what that means, but sounded interesting enough to check out, yeah?

"And finding out you were Uchiha was easy. You're a really heavy sleeper after you two talk together for too long, or after you go through a big battle, un. A simple slip of your mask on my way to the bathroom and a glance and another slip on my way back, it was easy to figure out. All Uchiha have those same features, 'though I'd probably describe yours as longer and slightly mangled. Too bad, yeah? But whatever. None of my business."

Through this whole explanation, not-Tobi looked steadily more incredulous. Demyx took advantage of the Uchiha's eventual full-blown shock and his smirk became a smug grin.

"And I know you're directly affected by Tobi," he smoothly continued, barely missing a beat, "because of trial and error. Don't think I didn't notice how the two of you hesitated to run away from that battle and really _did_ freak out when you thought I died before Sasuke made me kick the bucket, yeah? Bad form. Assumption is a tricky thing for a shinobi, but I guess you already knew that. And just now, when you were strangling me, I saw the panic in the back of your eyes, and you didn't even squeeze tight enough to even leave bruises, un. That suggests hesitation."

Demyx paused for a minute, then cheekily added, "And I'm not going to give you away. Truth is, I've grown kinda fond of Tobi, even if he's an annoying little shit most of the time."

Not-Tobi's personality was blown back as Tobi exploded to the surface, a wide grin and shining non-Sharingan eyes evident in his face. "You mean that, Senpai?!" he asked excitedly. Demyx scowled faintly and muttered a half-assed affirmation, causing Tobi to squeal and lunge forward to tackle him in another hug. This time Demyx had no time to pinwheel and went crashing backwards onto the floor, hissing in pain when he heard his back crack loudly in protest. Pain in the ass son of a...an Uchiha!

"Get the fuck off me, Tobi!" he snarled, struggling in the larger man's grip. But Tobi merely hugged him tighter, squealing again as he apparently remembered Demyx's agreement. It was all he could do not to strangle the ravenette, and eventually he gave up, sighing in annoyance before awkwardly hugging back.

Of course, it was that point in time that, of all people, _Zexion_ decided to walk in and see if Demyx wanted to switch out the watch.

The door opening brought both shinobi's attentions to it, blinking in near-identical shock as Demyx fell into his normal acting bit, and for a long moment Zexion just stared at them. It was about this time that Demyx realized how he and Tobi looked:

Demyx laying under Tobi, who was half-laying on him between his sprawled legs, Demyx's face red from repressed anger/embarrassment, the two embracing each other, and Tobi's face previously buried in the crook of his neck.

There was a pregnant pause.

"If it's not going to danger the Organization," Zexion eventually deadpanned, slowly closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose in resigned exasperation, "I don't want to know."

"Z-Zexion!" Demyx pathetically squeaked, barely registering the surprised look from Tobi as he struggled feebly. "Wait! I-it, uh, isn't what it l-looks like! Really! C-come back!"

But Zexion had already left and closed the door, muttering about 'Neophyte fetishes' and 'prisoners not being treated like prisoners'. Demyx shouted after him for a few more moments before falling silent, feeling safer. His panicked expression turned into a deadpan, then a scowl.

"Tobi. Get off. Now. Before he comes back."

In an instant, Tobi had scrambled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head nervously and offering Demyx a hand that was ignored. "S-sorry, Senpai," he said with an awkward laugh that fell flat as Demyx gave him an irritated look.

"I'd blow you up right now if it didn't bring too much attention to us, yeah," the blond said/growled, causing Tobi to minutely shrink back. When Demyx transferred his attention away from his kohai and towards the awkward positioning of his pleather/Darkness-made cloak, the Uchiha regained courage and gazed imploringly at Demyx.

"Um...can Tobi ask a question?"

Demyx gave Tobi a slightly annoyed look. "I don't know; can you?"

"Yeah!" Tobi chirped, the sarcasm and cliché-ness of the question going over his head. Tobi literally bounced again, gazing at Demyx with faint awe and curiosity, which Demyx absently wondered the possibilities of being a normal look when the childish man was about to ask a question. "Ummm, Tobi wanted to know if Senpai has two personalities, too!"

His cloak finally fixed, Demyx couldn't help but look incredulous. A long silence stretched between the two.

Then—

"Uh, did you really just ask that?" the blond asked, unable to even scrounge up any anger in his confusion/disbelief. Tobi blushed faintly, but nodded, causing Demyx to roll his eyes to the ceiling in a 'Kami help me' gesture before returning his attention to his usually-idiotic fellow Akatsuki member. "No, Tobi. I do not have Multiple Personality Disorder or whatever the fuck is wrong with you. I was acting. That thing shinobi do when they're undercover, yeah?"

Again, Demyx could watch as the change between Tobi and not-Tobi took place, a subtle hardening of the same features that seemed to age them exponentially and a weariness that just didn't exist within Tobi 77 per cent of the time. He patiently waited for not-Tobi to speak, expertly hiding his slight unease at how simple that transformation had been.

"It's not Multiple Personality Disorder," not-Tobi explained in his deeper, steadier voice. He sighed lightly and folded his arms over his chest, looking rather tired. "Not exactly, at least. It's a side-effect of overuse of my Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Heard about that once," Demyx conversationally admitted, frowning himself. "You have to take the eyes of another person who has a Mangekyo Sharingan and implant them in yourself, yeah?"

Not-Tobi paused only a moment to give Demyx a calculating look before nodding. "Right. But those eyes cannot be taken by force. Whereas nearly deadly stress activates the normal Mangekyo Sharingan, resulting in the rumors that one has to kill their best friend or sibling or perhaps even both, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is created by two consenting parties with neither feeling any sort of duress, thus the reason why it's so hard to obtain. The only reason why I have it is because my brother cared more about my safety than his own."

There was a pause as not-Tobi's eyes flashed with sadness, then the man continued as if the pause had never happened at all.

"But much like the normal Mangekyo, Eternal Mangekyo has a large side-effect. Instead of destroying one's eyesight until it is gone, the Eternal Mangekyo causes a rift in the mind, different for each wielder and benefactor. Mine appears to have resulted in a personality eerily similar to my brother's manifesting and taking over for long periods of time, sometimes without meaning to, and always directly after prolonged use of the Eternal Mangekyo."

Demyx was silent for a long moment. "So I can assume you're the original personality, yeah?" he slowly queried. For the first time, a faint, nearly-unnoticeable smile graced not-Tobi's face, making him just slightly more like the Tobi Demyx knew so well.

"I don't know. Can you?" At Demyx's irritated look, not-Tobi's smile widened before falling out of existence. A serious tone arrived to his features instead. "Yes, you'd be correct. I'm technically the true owner of this body."

A terse nod from Demyx communicated just what he thought about that, but no comment passed the blond's lips other than a mildly-spoken question. "And can I have your name, Uchiha-san? Or should I just keep calling you 'Uchiha-san' for the rest of your stay?"

There was another, longer pause. Then not-Tobi inclined his head. "My name," he said, gesturing faintly towards his own chest, "is Madara. Uchiha Madara, previous Head of the Uchiha clan, and the true Leader of Akatsuki."

It was a sign of how much Demyx knew that he merely nodded slightly in response.

-.-.-.-.-

_**OMAKE  
**__**Demyx Blows**_

"Tobi. Get off. Now. Before he comes back."

In an instant, Tobi had scrambled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head nervously and offering Demyx a hand that was ignored. "S-sorry, Senpai," he said with an awkward laugh that fell flat as he was suddenly over washed with murderous intent. He visibly paled and 'eep!'ed loudly.

Soon after, a loud, deafening explosion rocked The World That Never Was. Most members of the Organization responded by sighing in knowing, resigned exasperation.

"Someone go tell Axel to stop exploding the Time Bomb Heartless when he gets bored..._again_," Xemnas drawled with a hand to his forehead.

"IT WASN'T ME!" Axel instantly shouted from quite a ways down the hall, sounding surprised and irritated by his own admission. It didn't stop Xaldin from lecturing him with a sense of annoyance

Meanwhile, two floors below, Demyx smirked at the smoldering, twitching mass before him. Maybe now Tobi would remember to give him some respect...

(Not likely, Demyx. Sorry! :D)

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-14-13): Wow, I forgot how much fun this story was! Definitely a contender for being turned into a full-length story soon! (Actually, it's part of the poll on my profile for the stories I focus on next, so if you do want to see it continued go fill that out~) By the way, for those of you who are curious, this was totally thought up while I was writing a timetravel story (you'll see it later on likely) and trying to figure out Deidara's role; my little brother asked a question about Kingdom Hearts, specifically Demyx and Roxas, and thus this was born~

SPOILERS: Eventually Demyx would defect from the Organization and take a handful of the other Nobodys with him. Back in his world, the Shinobi War was put on hold after Pein's death (which would have ruined Madara's plans, as decided when planning this, so he's had to regroup) but TobiDara was eventually found by Konoha and nearly killed. This is what triggered his unconscious teleportation to Deidara and sparked the story. When Demyx and the others defect they will return to the Shinobi world and Demyx will basically take over running the Akatsuki, with TobiDara's support, and rebuild it with his own take on the system. I have the teams set up, actually, but have decided against sharing them here...as I've mentioned this story is surprisingly likely to be continued one day and I don't want to spoil TOO much! ;)


	4. FFVIINaru: Ancient Sakura

Ancient Sakura

Summary: When Sakura's parents are murdered before her eyes at the young age of five, she is contacted by her ancestors through her connections to the Planet Herself. The _true_ Last Ancient is now charged with not only preserving her race, but also finding those who will help her with saving the newest generation of WEAPONS and their protectors from a dangerous, murderous group. The Akatsuki.

"speaking normally"

'_thinking normally'_

"_Planet/Lifestream/deceased Ancient speaking"_

"**Bijuu/WEAPON/possessed Jinchuuriki speaking"**

"Jutsu"

Chapter One:

"…"

Haruno Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. It wasn't possible; her five-year-old mind just couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Her short pink hair was disheveled, flying about her face haphazardly as if she had just gotten through with running, her pretty pink lips were parted in a shocked "o" as her breath flew past them rapidly, and her brilliant and unearthly green eyes were wide as they sparkled with unshed tears.

Before her, lying in pools of deep and shining crimson blood, were her parents' dead bodies.

And standing above them was a man wielding a knife with a crazed look, observing his handiwork almost proudly.

"Fuckin' awesome job," he mumbled darkly, his voice boring into Sakura's subconscious as she stared up at him in horror. "Outta be pretty fucking pleased with me…" Suddenly, the man looked up, purple-red eyes locking with Sakura's. The man sneered and the young girl almost instantly began to sob, but he merely turned away from her, blood dripping still from his knife's blade. "You're pretty damn lucky, girl, that I don't kill kids. Maybe I'll see ya in a few years."

The man left.

Sakura's tears flew down her pretty porcelain face, her shoulders shaking as she crawled weakly over to her father's face-down body. After only a moment's hesitation, she reached forward and gently touched his shoulder with a shaking hand; it was almost instantly retracted as Sakura gasped at the slight coolness of the body before she started to sob again. Her face was quickly buried into her hands and her whole being shook with her cries.

"_Child…please, do not be so sad…"_ an unfamiliar and slightly disjointed voice whispered in Sakura's ear. The girl, again, gasped and her head snapped up, but this time she had no idea where she was; green mist-like threads flew around her against a backdrop of white, with beautiful pastel flowers blooming about her knees and seeming to caress her skin.

"Wh-what?" asked Sakura aloud, looking around with wide eyes as she sniffled pathetically. The voice made a cooing sound and a slight wave of sudden, calming images within her mind's eye.

"_Oh, my Child…my poor, poor Child…I am so very sorry about the fate that your parents have suffered,"_ the disjointed voice told her gently. _"I am so very sorry about the fate that you have suffered."_

Slowly, Sakura blinked, reaching up with her hand to wipe at her tears as she sniffled again. She knew that she should still be sad, but for some reason, this voice calmed her a lot. It was like she was little again and her mother was singing her favorite lullaby.

"_There, that is better."_ The voice gave off the idea that it was relieved, but Sakura realized with a start that it really wasn't a voice at all. Instead, it was like a whole bunch of pictures and feelings were shoved into her head and she instinctively knew how to decipher them into words. _"Please, my Child, believe me when I say that I dearly wish I could have prevented what has happened."_

"Wh…who…are you?" Sakura slowly asked, twisting her head to look at the area around her with wide green eyes. She got the distinct impression that the voice was amused.

"_I, my Child, am known as the Planet. You, however, may call me Mother Gaia."_

Sakura's eyes widened to almost comical proportions. "Mother?! Y-you mean like _my_ Mom!?"

The voice chuckled slightly, but sadly at that. _"Not exactly, my Child,"_ soothed Mother Gaia calmly. _"I am the Mother of All, from the flowers to the animals to humans like you. You are all formed from my Life—my Blood. The Lifestream."_

"The Lifestream…" Sakura echoed reverently, somehow knowing that the word was important.

"_Correct."_ Mother Gaia paused for a moment before going on, images pulsing through Sakura's mind much like she was looking at a picture book. _"Within the Planet where you live is a continuous river known as the Lifestream. It holds the spirits of everything that has ever had life. Every time someone is born, they are given part of the Lifestream to create their Soul; every time someone dies, they return that Soul to the Lifestream."_

Quickly, Sakura's mind began to process this information. "So, then…Mom and Dad…they're now part of the Lifestream?"

"_Exactly,"_ agreed Mother Gaia. _"However, soon, their Souls will be given a new Life. They will become someone else entirely."_

Sakura slowly nodded. It may have been because of the images, but she understood almost exactly what Mother Gaia meant. The Planet soon went on.

"_The Lifestream has a system of checks and balances for how many Souls survive on my surface and how many do not. Yet, in recent times the implement of shinobi in almost daily combat has caused that system to become unstable. The rate of deaths and births has increased too much as a result, and the Lifestream is beginning to become too worn. I created a group of WEAPONS, protectors of myself and my children, to stop the devastation—nine, to be precise—and charged them with challenging the main centers of the shinobi and destroying them to show my children the error of their ways. What I found was that this was all for naught; each and every one was captured by the villages and labeled as demons. I believe you would know them as the Bijuu, Tailed Beasts."_

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the name from stories her parents used to tell her. Most specifically, the story of the Nine-Tailed Bijuu, Kyuubi no Youko, came to mind—the demon that had attacked her very own village. No…not the demon. The WEAPON.

"_I regret doing this, now,"_ Mother Gaia admitted to the rapidly paling Sakura. _"I merely wanted to stabilize the balance as quickly as possible. I have realized over the years that perhaps a more subdued and gradual approach would have been better. But what is done has been done. The only thing I can do now is try and fix my foolish mistakes."_

"Why are you telling me this?" Sakura asked breathily, shaking her head rapidly. "I-I mean…I'm…I'm just a kid! What do you want me to do about it!?"

Mother Gaia chuckled softly. _"Ah, but that is where you are wrong, my Child. You are not merely a child—you are one of my Children, a being known as a Cetra or an Ancient."_

Sakura's eyes widened again. "An…cient?"

"_Yes,"_ affirmed Mother Gaia. _"An Ancient. Many years ago, when I was still very young, I gave life to a set of beings known as the Cetra. They were able to communicate with myself at will, without hardly a second thought. For years they were my Protectors. However, tragedy eventually struck. A being known as the Calamity from the Skies, or Jenova, crashed upon my surface and began to terrorize my darling Cetra. They eventually had to sacrifice most of their number to subdue the creature. Eventually, I was forced to create simple humans as a result—those who could no longer communicate with me, but reproduced much more often than my direct Children. Slowly their number dwindled until they practically died out. After a Crisis involving the return of Jenova was adverted, I was able to recreate some of the Cetra using the descendents of my Saviors."_

"S-so, then…" Sakura stammered, barely able to believe what she was hearing (sort of). "I'm a…Cetra!?"

"_Exactly."_ Mother Gaia paused for a moment before sighing sadly. _"Unfortunately, the recent times have resulted in the death of many of your indirect Siblings. As a result…you, my Child, are the Last."_

Silence followed this proclamation as Sakura processed this. So then, not only was she alone as far as family went…but she was also the last of a whole entire _race_ of people. Tears, again, welled up within her eyes before sudden determination blew through her being, allowing Sakura to blink them away with a sense of resolve. She turned stubbornly towards the swirling green mist-like threads around her.

"I want to help you," she said purposefully. "And, I want to help your WEAPONS, too! What can I do!?"

Mother Gaia instantly seemed to become relieved; Sakura could easily sense it. _"Oh, my darling Child, how I had hoped you would say this,"_ the Planet announced. _"However, I must warn you now that the journey will not be easy. You will have to make many sacrifices, some easier than others, in order to make it possible."_

Sakura snorted in a very unladylike way. "I don't care! I still want to do it!"

A moment passed. _"All right, then my Child. I…can only hope you will be truly ready. For now, I will tell you more about this situation."_ Mother Gaia paused. _"As a Cetra, you have many special talents that others do not have access to. You will be able to converse with myself and my animal Children, as well as my WEAPONS, when you shall meet them. You will also have access to a power crafted by my own being known as Magic."_

Sakura's eyes widened dramatically. "Magic!?" she echoed loudly and excitedly. Mater Gaia chuckled.

"_Yes. Magic. You, my Child, can use an elemental power known as Magic by channeling small portions of my Lifestream through your own body and the area around you. I will happily supply you with a perfect tutor for that on the eve of your sixth birthday, for that is when your Inner Powers should have developed enough for safe daily use."_

Despite herself, Sakura grinned widely. "Awesome!"

Again, Mother Gaia chuckled. _"Indeed, my Child."_ The Planet abruptly became serious. _"However, even once you gain access to these powers in conjunction with being able to communicate with myself at whim, I fear that it shall not be enough to guarantee your safety. As such, a set of Guardians will be in order."_

Sakura slowly blinked, her excitement dimming in the face of confusion. "Guardians…? What kind of guardians?"

"_People to protect you; to make sure you are safe as can be while you make your way to your goal, my Child,"_ explained Mother Gaia patiently. Sakura nodded her understanding. _"However, unless you acknowledge them as such, they will not necessarily become your Guardians."_

"So, then, I can choose my Guardians?"

"_To a degree."_ When Sakura blinked, Mother Gaia elaborated. _"Only certain people have the assets necessary to become Guardians, my Child. And the only way to identify them…they have the same eyes as you."_

Those brilliant green eyes widened in surprise. "My eyes?" she echoed.

Instead of responding, Mother Gaia gave a tired sigh. _"I am afraid I must leave now, my Child. I have wasted much of my energy halting the outside world to speak for you. Just, please…find your first Guardian soon. I trust in your instincts to find him…my dearest young Child…my sole Heir…"_

And, suddenly, Sakura was back to kneeling in front of her parents' dead bodies, eyes wide and confused as she tried to figure out what, exactly, had just happened. The reality of the situation again hit her and tears began to fall again, Sakura stumbling to her feet as she choked out a sob. The words of Mother Gaia rang through her head: "Find your first Guardian."

Compelled by this command, Sakura found herself jumping around her parents' corpses and rushing out of her house, running towards the gates of the village as quickly as she could. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even realize that her speed was nearly at Jounin-level, nor did she notice when an ANBU caught sight of her rush and rushed away to report the anomaly to Konohagakure's Hokage. As a matter of fact, the reality that she was running didn't even permeate Sakura's consciousness until she was out of the Hidden Village and nearly a half-mile away.

When Sakura did realize she had been running, her eyes widened and she screeched to a stop, looking around in disbelief at her unfamiliar surroundings. Tears welled up in her eyes anew and she began to cry loudly, dropping to her knees and burying her face in her hands. The emotional rollercoaster she had been riding for less than half an hour had come to a head suddenly as she poured out her heart.

It wasn't until two ANBU (one a hawk, one a monkey) appeared and began to speak that she jolted back into reality.

"Haruno Sakura, if that is you, the Hokage wishes to bring you in for questioning on the matter of your parents' death as well as your sudden increase in speed from Civilian to high-Chuunin," said the hawk tonelessly. Sakura's head jerked up and she stared at the two ANBU for nearly half a second with teary eyes before she cried out in fright and lunged to her feet, taking off further away from Konoha. The ANBU quickly followed.

"Halt!" shouted the monkey, completely ignored by Sakura in her panic. During her frightful run, something was calling her in this direction…some sort of unidentified aura…

An abrupt turn to the right and a dash under the bushes confused the ANBU for long enough to let Sakura get quite a bit away. She burst into a clearing—

—and cried out when she stumbled over the ground, landing heavily against a wall…of…cloth…

Sakura's head snapped up and she stared in surprise at the owner of the chest/stomach she had just run into. He was a teenager, apparently, with short and messy red hair and soft, apathetic features. His clothes were made up of an odd black cloak with red clouds sparingly scattered across it, covering up his body almost completely from view save his face. He looked quite handsome, actually, but Sakura didn't notice that. No, all she noticed were his half-lidded eyes.

Eyes the exact shade of her own…

As Sakura stared with wide eyes up at the stranger, fingers tightly gripping the cloth over the man's stomach, he staring emotionlessly back, the tree leaves behind her rustled faintly. Finally tearing away from the mini-staring contest, Sakura turned to look over her shoulder and made a half-gasp half-sob sound before letting go of the man's cloak. She quickly ducked behind him and peaked out from behind his cloak's bulk, the man observing her curiously and with the slightest trace of amusement visible in his eyes—which she somehow instinctively knew was obvious only to her.

The ANBU abruptly appeared and took only a second to analyze the apparent situation before they both stiffened. The man Sakura was clinging to ignored them, observing Sakura closely. If he was trying to unnerve her, he failed spectacularly—Sakura merely gave him a pathetic look and a full viewing of her emotions.

"Akasuna no Sasori," the hawk ANBU suddenly said, stepping forward just a hair and subtly adjusting his stance, "we have no business with you at this moment. Hand over the girl and you will find no battle here."

The man, Sasori, took his time to observe Sakura's fearful face before he turned to the ANBU almost as an afterthought. He allowed a moment to pass, then two, before he opened his mouth.

"And if I don't want to hand her over?" he asked mildly, his voice soft and surprisingly unintimidating. The ANBU managed to give off an aura of discomfort at it nonetheless.

"Then," the monkey eventually said, the slightest of tremors in his voice, "we _do_ have business with you and you _will_ find a battle here."

Sasori's eyebrow twitched up just a fraction, like he wanted to arch an eyebrow but found himself unable to. "I see." His gaze drifted back to Sakura, who was staring up at him with pleading eyes, and he lifted his arm just a fraction so that his sleeve covered her view of the scene as he turned back. He glanced back at the ANBU. "You may die now."

Two screams pierced the air and caused Sakura to make a sound of surprise, but they were quickly silenced. Within five seconds of Sasori's words his arm lowered and Sakura stared with shock and awe at the wooden bear-like…_thing_ standing before them with the bodies of the two ANBU tossed carelessly over its thick, tree trunk-like arms.

"Whoa," she breathed, looking curiously at the wooden bear as it began to drift towards the far end of the clearing with surprising grace. She looked up at Sasori with sparkling eyes. "What _was_ that?"

"A puppet," was Sasori's simple response. Sakura slowly blinked and looked back at where the bear had disappeared, curiosity alight in her gaze.

"A puppet…with chakra strings?"

If Sasori was at all surprised by her observation, he didn't show it; instead, he inclined his head forward just a fraction. Sakura couldn't help but smile widely at the confirmation.

"Wow! Could I learn how to do that!?" she asked excitedly, eyes sparkling up at Sasori.

The strangely cloaked man's lips twitched down just a fraction, probably not enough for anyone other than Sakura and her new, surprising awareness of him to notice. "Perhaps," he said despite a slight doubt. He looked at her for a few more moments. "You should return to your village. Obviously they're looking for you."

Despite herself, Sakura deflated slightly. "Oh…right." But she didn't move, still staring up at him curiously. "…um, sir?" Sasori merely looked at her, so Sakura went on. "I…I have a question for you…"

For a long second, Sasori just stared at her. "…what?"

"Could you…" She stopped, thought for a second, then gazed up at Sasori with wide eyes. "Would you mind being my Guardian?"

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-18-13): SPOILERS: Sasori would have totally taken that the wrong way, thinking she meant like a custodial guardian, by the by. Anyway, I lost most of the notes for this story when my old computer crashed in 2009 (yes that's how old it is haha), but I remember her other guardians would include Kimimaro and...hrm...I keep thinking Kakuzu but that's definitely not right...I think it was actually one of the protagonists. Temari maybe? Meh, I don't remember, other than that they would join up after Sasori would be killed shortly post-timeskip (notably not from battling Sakura and Chiyo but instead the Akatsuki if I remember right). Sakura's magic tutor would be Aerith OF COURSE and she would model her style in both fighting and life after Sasori but with a more open and childlike approach. She's specialize in magic and poison with a side hobby of puppeteering for regular battle-puppets; her clothing would all feature the Akatsuki cloud (not realizing it was an organization or anything since Sasori wouldn't tell her) and when Sasori would die she'd get a tattoo on her hip of Sasori's scorpion mark in his honor. I even drew her mission outfits at one point both pre- and post-timeskip. God only knows where that ended up haha~


	5. Children of Daybreak

_Children of Daybreak_

Summary: ...? **Children!of!Akatsuki** post-/pre-manga, manga-based; Tobidara theory; twisted canon

_**TRIGGER WARNING!**_ Later sections have mentions of **_CHILD MOLESTATION/RAPE_** and _**PSYCHOLOGICAL **_**and**_** PHYSICAL TORTURE**_. Also, the whole fic is based upon _**GENETIC MANIPULATION/ARTIFICIAL BABIES/"TEST TUBE CHILDREN"**_. You have been warned!

-.-.-.-.-

**Arrival**

There was a shout of, "HOLY SONUVA—" before a body crashed face-first into the ground, blond ponytail and black and red cloak fluttering in the air for a moment before settling on the body.

A pause.

"...is he dead?" Tobi stage-whispered, earning himself an elbow to the gut and hushed "shh!" from Deidara. But the damage was already done; the figure stiffened, then seemed to go from a laying position to a rather foreign taijutsu position in a much faster time than even most shinobi could manage. More than one person was left staring in shock at the figure, who was glaring at them all with familiar (if different color) eyes.

The figure was a male, and a rather handsome one at that, if a group of men-plus-one-tomboy were the judges. Hair that was labeled by some as dark blond and others as light brown was tied back into a ponytail of unknown length, bangs on the left side falling over the front of a forehead protector and reaching the male's shoulder at the lowest. That slightly long face was aristocratic and oddly familiar, but still unidentifiable, with aristocratic features such as high cheekbones and naturally thin eyebrows and lips, his single visible eye naturally slanted and painted a blue so dark it was nearly black whilst surrounded by thin black tattoos. But it was what the figure was wearing that truly drew everyone's attention.

A low-collared Akatsuki cloak, open to reveal ninja-friendly clothes, and a forehead protector with the Amegakure mark tied around his forehead.

"Who are you?" the male asked harshly, his voice a smooth tenor.

"Could be askin' you the same thing, asshole," muttered Hidan irritably before Kakuzu mimicked Deidara and slammed an elbow into his partner's torso. The only real differences were the facts that Kakuzu hit much harder and that he aimed for the diaphragm rather than the stomach.

"What he means," Pein corrected, not even bothering to comment on the animosity in Akatsuki given the situation, "is that _you're_ the one who appeared in _our_ base."

The male gazed at Pein for a long moment before snorting inelegantly. "Base?" he asked, looking rather haughty. "What _base_? All I see is a cave with a bunch of Akatsuki cosplayers hanging out inside of it."

A brief silence followed those words.

"'Cosplayers'?" echoed Hidan, eyebrow twitching. He looked like he wanted to say something, but a glare from Kakuzu that clearly said 'Now is NOT the time!' shut him up effectively for the time being. The male rolled his eyes like everyone else was an idiot.

"Yeah, cosplayers. You know, people who dress up like their at times inappropriate idols for fun? Although why you would choose the Akatsuki, of all groups, is beyond me..." he said, his voice dropping to a mutter for the last sentence. The others went to respond, but before they could, another chakra flare caught everyone's attention; the male's head jerked up sharply and he stared with wide eyes as a shriek of surprise flew through the air, another figure—this one also with a black and red cloak, but with much shorter, navy blue (?) hair. Before the male could/would move, the figure fell on him with an exaggerated "oof!" of effort, sending both tumbling to the ground.

For a few seconds, the two figures were just lying face-down, the new one on top of the old as they regained their baring. Then the male suddenly jerked upwards, sending the new person tumbling over to fall on its back before both slowly climbed to their feet.

"Tani?" muttered the male in surprise and...was that worry?

"Bakudan?" the new figure responded in a woman's light alto, whirling sharply on her heel. The staring was accompanied with noises of surprise this time.

The woman, much like the man, was unusually attractive. Navy blue hair slipped to her chin and into her face over the strap of her forehead protector and just outside of a pair of traditional eyes so dark a brown they were nearly black, eyelashes of the same color thickly but not unattractively lining the underside of those eyes. Her face was also aristocratic, but had a slightly tomboyish edge to it, with lower cheekbones and a slightly more square jaw than the male (ironically).

But other than the open cloak, what really caught everyone's attention (and first caught their attention, to be truthful) were her seafoam-colored skin, three gill-like marks under either eye, and _two_ headbands tied within sight—an Amegakure headband around her waist like a belt, and a Konohagakure headband tied at a tilt around her forehead.

"How'd you get here?" Bakudan, the male, asked, barely sparing a glance at the shocked faces behind him. The woman, Tani, blinked once before frowning.

"I'm not exactly sure," she admitted lightly, reaching over her shoulder to grip the handle of a previously-unnoticed sword tied to her back. The Akatsuki tensed a moment before realizing the gesture wasn't one of warning, but one of self-comfort, since there was virtually no change in Tani's voice when she went on.

"Hada and I were fighting those idiotic bandits that've been screwing with Suna lately—the so-called 'swordsmen'...who sucked at fighting..." she added lowly, looking annoyed by that. Her expression soon cleared and she continued. "When I noticed your chakra disappear. I tried to contact the others, but before any of them responded, I just...started falling through the floor?"

It was obvious Tani realized how stupid that sounded midway through the explanation, and she frowned further before shrugging and giving a mischievous grin to Bakudan that showed off abnormally sharp teeth.

"Then I fell on _you_...may I say that you're quite the excellent pillow, Ba-ku-dan?"

"Shut up," snarled Bakudan, his ears turning red. He folded his arms moodily over his chest, bringing attention to the black top he had on over metal mesh-chainmail and featuring what appeared to be...an orange...mushroom? No, a mushroom-_cloud_—like from an explosion. Tani merely snickered immaturely at his reaction before her attention was drawn to the group behind him, at which point in time her eyes went impossibly wide.

"...holy...that's..." she breathed, clearly unable to believe it. Her eyes scanned each face before landing on Kisame's, which reflected a slightly duller version of her own shock, and a dainty hand with long, black-nailed fingers flew to her lips. "D—"

A rather loud yelp-shout-scream cut off whatever she was about to say, and two sets of dark eyes snapped upward as _another_ with a black and red cloak, but this time with short-cropped reddish-purple hair, fell downwards. Bakudan didn't even hesitate before stepping out of the way, but Tani merely shot him a faintly amused look before effortlessly catching the figure bridal-style, stumbling only slightly with the added weight.

"Shall I carry you across the threshold now?" she joked lightly before setting the figure down, steadying the distinctly male person carefully before she pulled away. Bakudan smirked faintly at the embarrassed look the male was sporting, although the Akatsuki was too busy taking in the newcomer's appearance to really process that.

Whereas the first two figures were mature-looking and attractive, this male appeared younger than them with vaguely childish features. Short-cropped hair that seemed a mix between red and purple spiked upwards and backwards away from his face, save a few strands that fell to cover the right half of his forehead, stopping just above amber, almond-shaped eyes shining with intelligence. His features were childish, as mentioned above, with a round but not fat face, large eyes, and freckles dotting over his nose and cheekbones, and a less childish, slightly pointed nose and slightly thick lips.

And much like the other two, his most shocking features were the collar-less, closed, and unaltered Akatsuki cloak, the Amegakure headband around his neck, and the Konohagakure headband tied around his right bicep.

"I could have caught myself," the male lightly admonished in a smooth baritone that didn't fit his childish features in the least. But Tani had stopped paying attention, her gaze once more on Kisame, and the male followed that gaze.

Then he paled noticeably.

"Akatsuki?" he muttered in shock. "As in the honest-to-goodness Akatsuki? How—"

The calculating look overtook his eyes as Bakudan and Tani exchanged glances.

"How did you get here, Yahiko-sama?" Tani asked after a heartbeat. Pein and Konan's eyes widened ever so slightly, but the new male, Yahiko, merely tore his gaze away from the others and gave her a faintly bemused look.

"How many times have I told you that I am no one's leader, Tani_wha_-_kun_?" he asked rather pointedly. Tani turned an interesting shade of purple, but grinned toothily again anyway.

"As many times as you've called me that, at least."

Yahiko rolled his eyes lightly, but a slight movement from the Akatsuki side brought his attention in that direction. It was Pein whom had moved; his eyes were narrowed ever-so-slightly, indicating danger, but none of the newcomers were at all afraid of either that nor the killer intent leaking subtly from virtually everyone there. Indeed, Tani merely widened her grin, Bakudan cocked an eyebrow and looked unimpressed, and Yahiko frowned lightly.

"Enough speaking amongst yourselves so casually," Pein said in his normal deadpan. Yahiko's eyes flashed and hardened, but Pein continued without pause. "Tell us who you are, where you came from, and explain your...appearance."

"Can't you all be a bit more creative with your questioning?" Bakudan snorted, rolling his eyes and folding his arms over his chest lightly. He was clearly unimpressed. "That sounded like something out of a fiction story. Yeah, guys?"

Tani snickered and Yahiko's lips twitched almost imperceptively, but a warning glance shut Bakudan up immediately, although he continued to gaze at the Akatsuki—and, specifically, Pein—with distaste and faint disbelief.

"Haughty little snot," snarled Deidara under his breath, obviously incensed and unnerved. "Sounds like an Uchiha, yeah?"

"Glad to hear that," Bakudan loudly said. "Far as I heard, Uchiha were actually pretty badass before they got slaughtered."

Deidara turned an interesting shade of puce, but remained silent other than to give Bakudan a dirty look. The blond/brunet merely smirked lightly in response.

"Stop toying with the blond, Bakudan," Yahiko said. Bakudan blinked once, slowly, but didn't object as the amber-eyed male turned his attention to Pein. There was no hesitance or uncertainty in his stance or appearance, hands loosely at his sides and a rather soft expression in place. "I apologize, but I know little if at all about what has happened to get us here. The last thing I, for one, remember is sensing Taniwha," the blue-skinned girl rolled her eyes and dropped her smug grin, "trying to contact me before she disappeared. I tried to sense Bakudan's chakra and find out where he was, but I could not get a hold of it, and before I could warn—"

As was becoming custom, the conversation was interrupted by a foreign sound, this time a half-scream half-curse. A look up revealed tanned skin, long black hair, and a black and red dress (?cloak?).

"I'm not catching her," both Bakudan and Tani said instantly, Bakudan with exasperation and Tani with a darkly amused snicker. Yahiko merely sighed before carefully positioning himself and sending chakra to ensure he held his stance/power. The repeated cursing suddenly stopped when the figure landed in his arms, hair fluttering in the air for a few moments before it was abruptly turned upright. The distinctly female figure blinked dazedly as the Akatsuki for the fourth time found something shocking to stare at.

The new woman was _definitely_ a woman, and a tall, almost abnormally attractive woman at that. Standing at what was at least close to six foot, the woman had long, wavy brown hair so dark it was nearly black falling down to mid-back behind her body, swaying lightly, with a few strands of her bangs falling forward into faintly slanted, light green eyes. Her features were comparable to that of one of the girls of Icha Icha, hands-down, smooth but strong yet possessing a distinctly feminine tilt which gave her a look screaming "I'm-willing-to-fuck-with-you-but-fuck-with-me-and -you-_die_". And the fourth shock of the day was easily comparable to that when the Akatsuki first saw Tani's, well, foreign appearance.

A bastardized Akatsuki cloak clung tightly to her vivacious curves, including breasts and hips that would put Tsunade no Sanin to shame, stopping short at about mid-thigh to create a dress-like appearance and with the top pulled down far enough to reveal a fair amount of her cleavage. Around her neck, an Amegakure headband; around her waist as an obi, a Konohagakure headband; hanging from a thick silver chain and resting just above the swell of her breasts, a familiar silver amulet featuring the symbol of one god Jashin; and stitches, running sporadically over bare bits of skin, including from the edge of her left eyebrow into her hairline that served to give her a permanently attractive look and down her right cheekbone into the back of her head.

"Holy shit, that was insane," the newcomer said in a voice that was somewhere between alto and soprano. She looked at Yahiko a moment before a seductive smile slowly spread across her face, and when she next spoke, there was a too-attractive lilt to her tone. "Ohhh, Yahiko-kun, did you catch me? How noble of you..."

There was definitely something wrong with this man, was the general decision in the back of every male Akatsuki member's mind (which was virtually all of them...), since he did nothing more than sigh exasperatedly at the newcomer.

"Stop it," he lowly said, his voice faintly warning. "We're in an unknown area with unknown people."

The woman blinked in confusion before whirling around to face Akatsuki, her hair and the Jashin amulet whirling with her. She didn't even move when the amulet fell heavily on her chest. No, she was too busy openly staring at those before them.

She blinked.

She glanced at the other newcomers.

She glanced at Akatsuki.

She blinked.

Then a slow, sultry grin spread across full pink lips. "Wow, they're hotter than I thought," she practically purred.

The three other newcomers face-faulted as the Akatsuki sweatdropped—many of them multiple times.

"I officially don't know you," Bakudan groaned after he had recovered, Tani laughing uproariously when she realized what had been said and Yahiko raising his eyes to the heavens with a 'Why ME?' expression firmly in place. The new girl just giggled lightly, winking at him and putting a slim finger to her lips in the universal sign of silence.

"If we are done with the useless prattle," said Pein in a slightly sharper voice than normal when everyone had recovered, instantly drawing attention back to himself, "you have yet to answer our other questions. Who are you, where do you come from, and why do you all appear the way we do?"

"That's easy," the newcomer said with a smirk that would have made lesser men drop to the floor with a nosebleed in an instant. She held up her hand and began ticking off points on her long, black-colored fingernails. "We're us, we come from our Villages, and we appear the way we do because we were born that way. Next round of questions, please!"

Again more than one person sweatdropped.

"Excuse her," Yahiko lightly said/asked/commanded, giving the woman a rather pointed look, "she has no filter between her mind and her mouth. We blame her 'mother' for that one."

The woman giggled lightly at that and winked at Yahiko, who ignored her and continued to speak to Pein.

"However, getting back to the point...I do not believe you will trust what we are saying...but..." Yahiko took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, his voice steady as he went on. "We," he gestured to himself and the group behind him, as if giving a lecture to a group of students, "are the results of numerous experiments done by first Orochimaru, and eventually his main confident Kabuto. The experimentations were done between the times of approximately," his gaze swept over the group, "a few months ago, when Akasuna no Sasori died, and continuing on for four years."

"How could it continue for four years if it started 'a few months ago'?" Pein demanded, although his face was somewhat paler than normal. Yahiko gave a slight, sad smile and bowed his head just slightly in acknowledgement before raising it again.

"Because...the four of us are from the future." When there was open disbelief on the faces in front of them, Yahiko's sad smile became even sadder. "We could prove it, should you wish." A beat, during which Pein's Rinnegan bore into his face, passed before the amber-eyed boy continued. "Your true name is not Pein, but Nagato. You...Konan...and my namesake, Yahiko, were members of the Ame Orphans. You were trained by the Sannin for a short period of time before starting a coup against the leaders of Amegakure, inspired in part by a story written by the Great Sage Jiraiya in which the main character fought for peace. Your views are still greatly affected by that story to this day."

More than one member of the Akatsuki was openly staring at Pein, and Konan seemed partially worried but mostly shocked as her gaze darted between the young child and the Leader of Akatsuki. Pein, himself, had paled so much his skin was more comparable to Orochimaru's than the faded tan it usually sported.

"I would assume that is enough proof?" asked Yahiko quietly. Pein just continued to stare for too long before he seemed to shake his head once, then frowned at the boy.

"More than," he said in a stiffer voice than normal. Yahiko inclined his head again, looking sad, but didn't comment as Pein re-gathered his scattered thoughts. "Who...are you?"

The question held much more weight than before, and the smile slipped off of Yahiko's face. The expressions of the newcomers were solemn, abnormally so for Tani and the other woman, if their personalities thus far were not fabricated.

"We," began Yahiko for the second time, "are the results of numerous experiments done by first Orochimaru, and eventually his main confident Kabuto. These experiments involved the creation of new life using various DNA sources of those who have fallen in battle. Essentially..."

Yahiko gave a rather wry grin. "We," he said for a third time, this time more strongly than before, "are the Children of the Akatsuki."

**-(would be a new chapter)-**

**Last Time:**

_"Essentially..." Yahiko gave a rather wry grin. "We," he said for a third time, this time more strongly than before, "are the Children of the Akatsuki."_

"I am Ame no Yahiko," began the amber-eyed boy. "The donators of the DNA used to create me were Ame no Konan and Ame no Nagato, and I was the second in a line of successes. I am male, 18 years of age, codename 'S.N.U.K.' I also have been called the 'Child of Rinnegan'."

There was a pause before Tani stepped forward, grinning as if unaffected by the whole thing. "The name's Tani," she said with a wave. "Full name Uchiha no Hoshigaki Taniwha, but that's a mouthful so I just go by 'Tani'. My 'rents, essentially, were Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, and I was the third result that didn't kick the bucket. I'm obviously a girl, 17 years old, and they called me 'S.K.U.I.' back in the labs before we busted out. The Bingo Books label me as 'Child of the No-Tail', or in the last edition, 'Samehada's Swordswoman of the Mist'."

The two remaining exchanged looks before Bakudan shrugged and glanced forward again. "I'm Katsu Bakudan," he said in a slow drawl, a smirk twisting the corners of his mouth when Deidara looked about ready to have a heart attack. "My DNA parents were Katsu Deidara and Tobi, believe it or not, and I was the last one created before the project was deemed 'finished'." No one saw the way Tobi went rigid, nor the exchanged looks between Konan, Pein, and Zetsu—well, no one from Akatsuki, at least. "I'm a guy, of course, 17 like Tani, and I was 'S.M.U.D.' before we got out. I think my prevailing, Akatsuki-appropriate nickname is 'Bakudan of the Big Bang', which is childish, but whatever. It gets the point across."

Finally, it was the newcomer's turn, and she smiled with that same, seductive tone of before. "Hiya, guys," she greeted with a giggle at the faintly sick looks on some of the Akatsuki's faces. "You can call me San Michael, named for the greatest warrior angel of Jashin-sama himself." This time, it was Hidan who looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and he was practically hypervenelating as the woman, Michael, went on. "According to the records, my parents are San Hidan and Jiongu no Kakuzu, 'though it says 'San Kakuzu' on the papers for whatever reason, and I was the first one not to be destroyed by the process of creation. I should hope you all noticed I'm a girl" (indeed they did) "and 19, with the flattering codename 'S.K.U.H.' They call me the 'Angel of Jashin'...or the 'Jiongu Seductress', depending on the area."

The silence, for the members of Akatsuki, was positively stifling. A slightly amused-looking Yahiko took this time to add, "Zetsu-senpai did not fall in battle, so he has no DNA result. Neither does Akasuna no Sasori, since he had no DNA left, nor Orochimaru, since he created the experiment and had no desire to use himself in it without knowing exactly what would result."

For much too long to be comfortable, no one so much as twitched. One could hear the wind whistling and a single leaf crunching a few miles away under some civilian's foot.

"Geesh, you'd think they'd seen a ghost," snickered Tani, holding the hilt of the sword on her back again. But the sword on her back suddenly had new meaning—the wrappings were slightly tattered and faded, but it was most definitely a very well-cared-for copy of Samehada...or maybe the _actual_ Samehada, if the dull chakra signature leaking through the bandages was any indication.

"How sensitive, Taniwha," Yahiko dryly said even as he fought an amused smile of his own. Tani just snorted and gave him a pointed look.

"That's just the way I am, Yahiko-_sama_; you can blame genetics for that."

Yahiko ignored the response, since Pein had aroused himself from his shock and was examining him in a new light. The 17-year-old stood a little straighter under the inspection, barely fighting back a blush when he realized what he was doing, but Pein made no indication he noticed. Finally, the Leader of Akatsuki spoke.

"That story is highly improbable," he said, slowly, obviously thinking carefully as he spoke, "but seems to be the most likely explanation given the facts we have found thus far, as unbelievable as it may be. However, that begs the question of what to do with you."

Yahiko blinked once, then raised his finger in a "one moment" gesture before turning to the others. Their attentions were instantly on him and they discussed in low voices, although not low enough to escape the Akatsuki's hearing. Whether that was intentional or not wasn't obvious.

"I think we should get the hell out of here," was Bakudan's instant suggestion. The other three glanced at him with open incredulousness, but he merely frowned and folded his arms over his chest with a seriousness obvious in his eyes. "This isn't our time. These aren't our battles. If we get involved, who knows what will happen? Maybe we'll even erase our own existences. Let's just run."

"Not an option," Yahiko said with a slight frown of his own. "We've already damaged the timeline just by being here, since neither my Kaa-chan nor Michael's nor Samehada nor Zetsu-senpai said anything about having met us before. There's no point in running other than to just get us killed." He quirked an eyebrow and smiled slightly at Bakudan. "Or did you forget Akatsuki is made up of S-Ranked criminals, a few of which have done much worse than kill their not-quite-children?"

Bakudan made a noise of annoyance, but didn't argue further.

"We could run to Konoha," suggested Tani with a shrug, folding her arms daintily over her chest. The action brought attention to the V-neck of her dark blue shirt and the two necklaces around her neck—one of which was a thick silver chain with two rings glinting just above her cleavage, and the other of which was undoubtedly the one that Itachi favored wearing. "They'd give us sanctuary."

"Or kill us," Bakudan added pessimistically. Tani rolled her eyes.

"Not if we were smart. Naruto sure as hell wouldn't. Besides, we have their headbands, attuned to our own chakra signatures...as much as you wish that wasn't true." She lowered her voice further, tone slightly sharp when she continued. "You take after your father, after all."

Bakudan's back stiffened and he glared at Tani with such venom that it was a miracle she didn't spontaneously explode (which was a very real possibility if he had Deidara's blood in him), baring his teeth in a snarl.

"Don't compare me to him," he said, ice dripping off the words. "I'm _nothing_ like him."

This protest was met with slight disbelief from the other three. Yahiko sighed and rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"Can we all stay together, as a _team_, PLEASE," he said with obvious exasperation. The tension settled slightly, but it was still present during a long pause.

"I think you guys are missing the obvious, with your above-average thinking skills and wanting to plan ahead no matter what," Michael suddenly said, smirking that seductive smirk when the others glanced incredulously at her. "We don't have to run from the Akatsuki; we could _join_ them." The eyes of the three widened further, but Michael merely widened her smirk. "We're strong enough to be Jounin and Special Jounin in two of the most productive villages ever to exist on the whole world, and the only reason why we're not ANBU or something is 'cause our techniques are too recognizable to blend in to a group like that without detection—except Yahiko, but his Kaa-chan is just too protective to put him in a situation where he would be practically guaranteed to go on a one-person mission based solely upon his abilities and without her consent. Duh."

The Akatsuki, who had at least pretended not to be listening in until this point, stared with easily more shock than the teenagers before them. However, the teenagers, at least, recovered quickly enough to actually think about the solution.

"Wow, you _actually_ had a good plan," Bakudan said with a faint smirk of his own. Michael merely giggled and winked, reaching up a hand to tangle in her hair and leaning forward slightly to show off her cleavage.

"Did you expect anything different?" she practically purred. Again, any lesser shinobi probably would have fallen over in a nosebleed, but the Akatsuki merely felt uncomfortable (in multiple ways...) while Bakudan simply cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yes."

Michael instantly dropped her stance and pouted childishly, but didn't say anything else.

"And everyone else agrees with this?" Yahiko asked, waiting for nods from his comrades. He nodded as well. "Well then..." The amber-eyed teen turned to the Akatsuki, smiling slightly at the burning eyes placed upon him. "Is it agreeable that the four of us temporarily join your ranks...at least until we find a way back to our own place and time?"

A flicker of eyes to the side was the only sign that Pein was waiting for a signal, and Tobi made a noise of surprise and hope in that split-second pause. "Completely," the supposed Leader of Akatsuki said as soon as Tobi had been harshly jabbed in the side by Deidara...again.

"Whoa, wait a sec," Tani suddenly said, waving her hand in a 'hey, hold up!' gesture. "I think we're going to need some stipulations if we're actually going to go through with this."

"What sort of...stipulations?" queried Pein after a few moments of semi-dangerous silence. The teenagers once more exchanged glances before turning to face him again, almost completely in sync.

Tani bluntly began: "Nothing stupid. We're not going to say anything if you give your other members crappy busy-work, but if it's anything less than a high-C mission, I'm fairly sure none of us would be interested and would probably botch things up on purpose to make it more entertaining. Well..." A toothy grin spread across the Hoshigaki heir's face. "I would, at least."

"The right to suggest another for a mission," Bakudan suddenly said, frowning thoughtfully. "We know our capabilities way better than you ever could, no matter how many times you see us in battle in the future. We have strengths and weaknesses, some of which can't be revealed to you for various reasons. I'm sure it'll be the same with you, yeah?"

"And we should be able to reject missions completely, too," Michael added, gazing with near-deadly seriousness and the promise of danger if her request wasn't met. "Especially if they go against ones who we've pledged our allegiances to in the future, or that we think could fuck everything up to Jashin and back for us if we ever return to our own time."

"A final request," Yahiko finished, gaze steady and somewhat harsh on Pein's face. He paused to make sure he had everyone's attention, then said in a dangerous tone, "No attacks against shinobi or civilians or the actual villages of Konohagakure and Sunagakure." At the looks of mutiny on some of the Akatsuki member's faces, Yahiko continued, raising his voice just slightly. "The four of us began our shinobi lives as Amegakure nin, but eventually extenuating circumstances brought us to become Konohagakure nin, even though some of us do not particularly enjoy that fact. Thus any attack made against Konohagakure and its allies is an attack we cannot participate in."

Yahiko paused for another, long moment, then a flinty edge of determination alit to his eye. His previously soft and surprisingly emotive voice suddenly became icy, cold, and warning. "When one of us gives our loyalty," he said, expression hard, "all of do, and we give it completely. That is the way we have always lived our lives."

-PAST REVEAL: MICHAEL-

_**-TRIGGER WARNING: IMPLIED CHILD MOLESTATION/RAPE!-**_

Ignoring the Mystery of the Magical Barrier that the others were still banging on, Michael gave the man across from her a pout, folding her arms just under her boobs and pushing them up for emphasis.

"And who are you?" she asked, just the slightest hint of warning behind her normal, seductive tone. The man smiled crookedly, showing off abnormally white teeth...and were those _fangs_ where his canines should have been?

"I go by many names," he said smoothly, his voice a deep and naturally soothing baritone that set everyone's hair on end, "but you can call me...the Demon of Fear."

Michael couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculousness of the name. "'Demon of Fear'? So, what, you're some Jinchuuriki-gone-rouge?"

The man's smile widened, and it felt like someone had slipped ice cubes down the back of Michael's tight shirt. "Not quite, but yes, I suppose that's the best definition."

At once, Michael frowned, leaning forward slightly and gazing at the man, the supposed Demon of Fear, without fear. "Riiiight..." she slowly said, drawing the word out. "Seriously, that's the best you got? C'mon, man, just own up. You're an assassin. That's why you're here, right?"

"Well, you're half-correct," the man said, absently looking at his fingers while continuing to smile his mysterious smile. "I am, technically, an assassin of the _highest_ caliber. However...that is not why I'm here." Suddenly the man leaned forward as well, tilting his head so shadows elongated down his face and with a much more dangerous, much more sadistic, much more...unnerving grin in place, he dropped the tone of his voice. "I'm not here to _kill_ you, 'Angel of Jashin'. I'm here to _break_ you."

A snarl twisted Michael's normally-beautiful features, and suddenly the 'angel' was replaced by a harpy. "Like _hell_! Lesser men than you have tried, and they all got sent as sacrifices to Jashin-sama!"

The man tutted slowly, shaking his head like Michael was a child denying the fact that she would ever grow up. "Ahhh, but that's not true, is it, S-K-U-H? There are a few who managed to break you...and get away with it."

It was like Michael was struck by lightning; she completely froze, eyes going wide and mouth opening just slightly in shock. The man seemed gleeful about the reaction and clapped his hands together once.

"Yes, yes, that's right," he said, seemingly more to himself than to Michael. "You remember, don't you, S-K-U-H? You remember, when you were a child—the pain—"

"Shut up," Michael whispered, an unreadable tone to her voice. The man ignored her and went on, eyes glittering with malicious cheer.

"—the fear—"

"Shut up!"

"—the wondering, 'When will they come back?'—"

"Stop it!"

"—'Will they go after my siblings, as well?'—"

"I said stop!"

"—and now, your most recent addition to this horror—"

"STOP TALKING!"

"—'Will Jashin-sama and my mother still accept me...if they know I'm not as clean as is expected for a Priestess of Jashin?'"

"STOOOOP!" Michael screeched, covering her ears with her dainty hands. "Stop it, stop it, stop it! You're lying! You're a lying bastard, shut up!"

"Oh, but I'm not!" the man chirped brightly, now leering at Michael. "Your reaction to the re-opening of your mental and emotional scars is proof! Not to mention the literal ones—has anyone ever seen below your waist, I wonder—?"

Michael, whose legs had become steadily more unsteady throughout the taunting, suddenly collapsed onto her knees, tears leaking from her beautiful eyes. The normally strong and confident woman was, with a few well-placed words, breaking down into a childish mass of sorrow, horror, self-depreciation.

"No, no, no, no," she muttered repeatedly, her hands still covering her ears as she held her legs to her chest, seeming not to notice the tears still running down her face as her wide eyes gazed unseeingly at the ground in front of her. "No, it's not true—Jashin-sama—he—he'll still accept me—and Mom—Mom said—he _said_—"

"Did he?" drawled the man, seeming to be very interested in the girl's reaction. Outside of the barrier, the other three children were slamming into it with all of their strength, trying out different techniques and styles with Tani and Bakudan shouting threats to the man that would make even the most battle-hardened shinobi piss himself. Yahiko only had eyes for Michael, shouting for her to stop listening, that the man was lying, that there was no way her Kaa-chan would stop -

"Or did you just imagine it?" the man continued, ignoring the shouting from outside his barrier other than to raise his voice just slightly. "Did your mind supply what you wanted to hear for that conversation or did it go more like...?"

A shimmering seemed to surround the area, and suddenly the man was gone, causing Michael's eyes to snap into focus as she looked around. The fear in her suddenly dull eyes seemed foreign, and it increased when two slightly faded images flickered into view, of a younger Michael somewhere in her early teens and a Hidan that was wearing much more casual clothes, his hair not slicked back. The young Michael was gazing at her feet, looking ashamed, and the casual Hidan had an expression of disgust in place.

"You're not pure?" the fake said, slightly fizzling voice sounding absolutely revolted by the very thought. "Ugh! Get the fuck out! I don't even want to look at you anymore, little fuckin' whore. Jashin-sama would _never_ care about some heathen piece of shit like you—and neither would I! Get the fuck out of my house! GET THE FUCK OUT!"

The older Michael suddenly started sobbing loudly as the images faded out and the man appeared again, smug and positively elated by the reaction.

"See how it really happened?" he asked in a positively insane voice, raising it so Michael could hear over her sobs, long fingers digging into the sides of her skull. Her control over her Jiongu seemed to be slipping, since threads began to lash out of the openings on her legs, the one on her neck, the one on the side of her face, trying to hit the man but falling pathetically short without Michael to guide them. "See how much he doesn't care? You're nothing but a heathen piece of shit! A little fucking whore! You _liked_ what they did to you, didn't you?! Of course! That's why you act the way you do—because you want it to happen _again_, now that you're older and able to experience the situation to its fullest! What a little—"

"GET THE **FUCKING** _HELL_ AWAY FROM MY _**DAUGHTER**_, YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!" roared a familiar voice. As if the barrier wasn't even there, Hidan, of all people, suddenly ran towards and then through it, his scythe out and already swinging at the man, who truly seemed to live up to his title of Demon of Fear.

A simple 'whoops!' escaped the man's mouth as he easily jumped out of the way, landing on the far side of the barrier. He observed Hidan, already preparing to take another flying leap at him, then Kakuzu, who had quickly followed Hidan's lead with a loud shout of his own anger and had a multitude of threads swaying around him dangerously even as he kneeled next to the still-sobbing and completely oblivious Michael, then he himself frowned.

"Well, looks like I've done my part here," he said, his frown turning into a smug smile when his gaze once more fell on the decidedly broken Michael. "Until next time, gentlemen...ladies. I wonder if you can guess which one will be next to face my Powers of Fear..."

And with a twisted, sadistic, demeaning bark of laughter, the Demon of Fear suddenly and without much more fanfare disappeared, his barrier disappearing along with it. Enraged, Hidan spewed forth curses many of the still onlookers had never heard before, claiming multiple things about the Demon of Fear's mother, eventual death, and future sexual experiences.

"Hidan," Kakuzu said harshly, having gradually retracted the threads of his Jiongu. His hands were hovering over Michael's shoulders, but he seemed unsure of whether he should actually touch her or not, looking more lost than he would ever admit to feeling. In an instant, the Jashinist was sitting on the ground in front of the still-uncontrollably-crying Michael, also hesitating before a glint of determination alit to his eyes.

With far more gentleness than many would expect of him, Hidan gently put his large hands on either of her cheeks. He ignored the sting when the few still-writhing threads instantly tried to tear his hand to shreds, slowly lifting Michael's head so her slightly hazy gaze was locked on him.

"Michael?" he asked quietly, barely registering when Kakuzu once more followed his lead and finally allowed himself to rest his hands on, essentially, their daughter's shoulders. Holy Jashin..._daughter_. That word had never had so much impact before now. "Michael...it's me. It's Hidan...your...mother." The words made him inwardly cringe, but they were necessary; Michael's eyes seemed to finally focus somewhat and he went on, keeping his voice low and as soothing as he could. "Michael, it's over. He's gone."

"He's not," she whispered back just as quietly, voice haunted. "He's not gone. He's right. What he said...it was the truth."

Despite himself, Hidan scoffed at the idea, shaking his head just slightly. "Fuck what he said, 'cause it _wasn't_ the truth. Why in Jashin's name would I kick out my own daughter for something as stupid as that?"

If a civilian was watching/reading about this, they might cringe and want to chastise Hidan for calling child rape 'stupid as that', but ninja would know that sometimes things had to be put into perspective. Shinobi would know that their fellows weren't civilians, that they could handle it, because to them child rape _may be_ immoral and deplorable and inexcusable...but it was also a part of living, something that many shinobi had seen at least once—probably more—whether it was in-progress or the aftereffects.

-PAST REVEAL: BAKUDAN-

_**-TRIGGER WARNING: PSYCHOLOGICAL/IMPLIED PHYSICAL TORTURE!-**_

Bakudan felt a frown beginning to pull at his lips, one hand in his pocket and the other hidden in his clay pouch.

"So, you're back," he noted blandly. "The Demon of Fear."

The Demon of Fear chuckled that mysterious, dangerous chuckle he seemed to favor. "Yes, I am," he said with his crooked grin. "And it's your turn to Face the Fear, 'Bakudan of the Big Bang'. Or perhaps 'Sharingan Terrorist' would be the truer title...?"

Completely unaffected by the possibly half-hearted attempt at a jab, Bakudan merely huffed lightly, bringing out his hand. The mouth on it opened and held the clay up with its tongue, allowing Bakudan to close his fist on it and begin to mold. "Petty things like that won't get to me. You should know that, yeah?"

The Demon of Fear's grin widened and he lazily cocked his head. "Oh, there's that word. 'Yeah'. Just like your 'mother', aren't you, S-M-U-D? Nothing but a miniature clone..."

"Hardly," snorted Bakudan, still unaffected. "Have you seen him? He's much more pathetic than I am."

Deidara, outside of the forcefield and leaning firmly against it as the others watched in resignment, was too interested in the events going on to react to the perceived insult. Tobi gave off a 'frowning aura' and wondered where this questioning was leading on that track.

"True, true," agreed the Demon of Fear absently, bobbing his head in agreement. His sly grin turned more malicious. "You're much more like your father in that regard."

And that was it—in a moment, much like when he had first been compared to his father after introductions so long ago, Bakudan's back went stiff and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He even stopped molding the clay in his hand.

"And?" he asked, his voice slightly tighter than before. "That's where the similarities stop."

"Oh, I don't think so," the Demon of Fear said with an absent shrug, slouching slightly and gazing at Bakudan with half-lidded eyes as his grin softened until it was merely playing about his lips. "After all, you act like him—"

"He's a bigger idiot."

"—talk like him—"

"I'm not suffering from idiocy."

"—and like to deny the truth like him, don't you?"

Suddenly, Bakudan fell silent, simply staring at the Demon of Fear with faintly narrowed eyes. Then, ever so slowly, as if doubting himself even as he did it, he asked, "...and...how is that...?"

"Easy!" claimed the Demon of Fear, chuckling as if the answer was obvious. "Your father denied the fact that he was evil, that what he was doing would destroy the world; and you...deny the fact that you're like him."

The Akatsuki turned sharply to Tobi, who had frozen just as Bakudan had, mask turned toward the Demon of Fear. But their silent questions were answered when the conversation continued.

"You're lying!" shouted Bakudan even as uncertainty alit to his eyes. "My father—"

"—was trying to take over the world, yes?" the Demon of Fear said slowly, as if talking about the weather. "And was using others to do it?" Bakudan jerked, but Tobi was still ramrod-still outside of the barrier, appearing not to notice the increasingly murderous glares sent to him by some of his fellows. The Akatsuki Children exchanged looks briefly before turning their attention back to the distressed Bakudan, whose eyes showed more and more panic by the minute.

"He tried to justify it, of course," continued the Demon of Fear, shrugging just slightly. "'I'm doing it for the sake of the world'—'Izuna's last wish was for no more war...the best way to do that is to not give them a choice to start one'—'Tobi agrees it's best'—never mind what the others wanted, or that Tobi is nowhere near mentally stable enough to protest such thoughts..."

"M-my father is T-T-Tobi," Bakudan said with an uncharacteristic stutter. The Demon of Fear just gave an indulgent smile, as if Bakudan was a child showing off a painting of a cookie that just looked like mud to an adult's eyes.

"Well, you're half right. Tobi...and Uchiha Madara...are, in a way, both your parents. But not in the traditional sense. You are, of course, aware of what happens to your own mind whenever you overuse the Mangekyo—how it gets worse every time, lasts longer, seems to be more effective?" Mechanically, Bakudan nodded, and the Demon of Fear put on a look like he was proud. "Imagine using the Mangekyo hundreds of times—maybe even thousands—for hours and days and weeks without rest...for more than a hundred years?"

The Akatsuki was becoming steadily more incredulous, only Deidara seeming more focused on Bakudan than the revelations the Demon of Fear was forcing. Bakudan's gaze darted between the Demon of Fear and MadaraTobiMadara, clearly torn, but the Demon was nowhere near finished yet.

"Which brings about yet another similarity, come to think on it. Not to mention you are both arrogant, confident to the point of fault...you both have at least a mild god-complex...your minds are both deteriorating at a startling pace. Why, in those regards, I would say you even surpass your father!" Slowly, the bloodthirsty smirk he had sprung on Michael before dealing the damning blow made its reappearance. "I wonder what else you could, have, will surpass him in...?"

The Demon of Fear was suddenly gone, and the whole world seemed to shift; a world, covered in blood and corpses, the area demolished, replaced it. Some corpses were recognizable—the tattered array of Hidan's clothes from Michael's memory were scattered about as if blown to bits, a few silver hairs and a large splattering of blood in the same area—the sight of the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki and his pink-haired friend, both viciously torn apart, the pink-haired one with a frightened look in place—Zetsu's venus fly trap appendages were closer to where Bakudan still stood, frozen, halfway through making a bomb, bloody and without Zetsu attached—

And in the middle of this carnage, not too far away from Bakudan, was an older and scarier copy of himself. Cloak fluttering, whole self splattered in blood, the other-Bakudan was laughing in an unhinged way as he plunged a sword through what was quickly identified as...

"Tani?" breathed Bakudan, clearly unable to believe it. The phantom-Tani, missing an arm, holding Samehada in one hand, teeth bared in a bloody and savage grin, was gazing at other-Bakudan with unconcealed rage and bloodlust.

"You killed them!" she snarled, sounding more demonic and pained and broken than any Jinchuuriki. "You killed them, you bastard! Uchiha! Just like your father! Fuck you! You killed them—they wanted to help you! And you KILLED THEM!"

Other-Bakudan seemed amused and a twisted smirk graced his features, Mangekyo swirling menacingly. "For peace," he whispered before phantom-Tani suddenly froze. An image of Bakudan's Mangekyo swam in her eye for a full five seconds—five days—before she screamed and sobbed and begged—and then Other-Bakudan stabbed her through straight through the chest.

Bakudan seemed horrified, and only became more so when Other-Bakudan stared for a moment before a low bubble of laughter started. Then guwaffs escaped the Other-Bakudan, loud, unhinged, animalistic—but suddenly the voice deepened, the features shifted, and an Uchiha with a long face and a half-broken orange mask was standing there instead, sword through a young Naruto appearing to be of their time.

"For peace!" the unmistakable and bloody form of Uchiha Madara cackled. But suddenly Naruto's eyes, dull moments before, snapped fully open. They were the color of blood and a roar of rage escaped the Jinchuuriki before he pushed himself up the sword, a full eight tails of red chakra lashing behind him, muscle and bone and a few patches of fire-red fur like that on the Nine-Tailed Fox visible, before stabbing a shocked Madara through the heart.

"For peace," whispered Naruto, shaking visibly as he slowly faded back to normal and collapsed. And in that moment, everyone knew this was no longer a vision of Bakudan's greatest fear, but of the past.

Then the vision shifted again, Bakudan's features overtaking Madara's in a reverse of earlier, and it was obvious phantom-Tani was not going to do the same as Naruto. Other-Bakudan was grinning unhingedly, still laughing, as he leaned forward and looked _deadgonegoneforgooddead_ into phantom-Tani's lifeless, pain-filled, angry and betrayed eyes.

"Happy to do you a service, Tan-i-wha," he breathed.

And _Bakudan_ **screamed**

"NONONONONONONONOTMENOTMENOSTOPPLEASE IMNOTHIMIWOULDNTDOTHISINEVERWOULDSTOP BLAMINGMENOTMYFAULTNOTMYFAULTITWASHISIM NOTHINGLIKEHIMSTOPNONONOSTOPSTOPDONTIMSORRY IMSORRYMYFAULTIDIDITISHOULDVEGOTTENOUT STOPPEDHIMSTOPPEDEVERYTHINGINONONONOCOULD HAVEDONESOMETHINGNEVERWORKEDTOOWEAKSORRY SORRYSORRYMOMSORRYMOMMYMOMMYHELPPLEASE STOPITSTOPIMNOTHIMIMNOTHIM

_**I**_

_**'**_

_**M**_

_**N**_

_**O**_

_**T**_

_**H**_

_**I**_

_**M**_

And the screaming degraded into sobs, Bakudan collapsing under his own weight and curling up into a ball, rocking back and forth and hypervenalateing. Every so often, when he drew in a rattling breath by seeming accident, he'd once more scream in that same broken, destroyed, absolutely heart-wrenching voice that he was sorry—that it wasn't his fault—he couldn't have stopped it—he could have stopped it—he wasn't _him_—he was him—it was his fault—ohgodmakethepainstopstopstopstop—

MOM!

And the Demon of Fear was laughing himself, chuckling menacingly even as Deidara flew through the forcefield and threw a powerhouse punch into his face, Tobi—no, _Madara_—catching the downed man. The mask was ripped off the eldest Uchiha's face, Sharingan eyes whirling too quickly to make out what form they were in, bloodlust leaking off of him and an animalistic snarl in place.

"LEAVE MY SON ALONE!" the Uchiha roared, literally shaking the earth beneath their feet as Amaterasu Herself raged around and behind him, calling out for blood. The Demon of Fear just bared his own teeth in a feral grin, blood staining the abnormally white bones as he gave his own, just as deranged laugh.

"You can't stop it," he whispered, clearly as crazed as the Madara in the vision had been. "Look at what your scheming has done to the world—yourself—your _son_. Shall I show you more? About how no one cried, about how you caused Deidara's death, about how you recruited a child to murder for you—your fear is tasty, Mr. Uchiha Madara, easily as tasty as that of any of those I have _ever_ tasted **before**..."

Another snarl escaped Madara and he slammed the Demon of Fear into a tree hard enough to break it, sending woodchips and dust fluttering about the floor.

"I don't give a fuck!" he snarled, not seeming to move even though he was suddenly in front of the mountain face and slammed the Demon of Fear into it. A loud crack echoed, and a spider web of fissures suddenly lined the whole of the large, thick, supposedly-indestructible rock. "You'll pay, you son-of-a-bitch! You touched what's my senpai's; you've touched what's mine; _you've touched and fractured what's ours_! I swear to whatever deities are out there, you fucking psycho sadistic bastard, _**I will slowly tear you to pieces for what you've done**_!"

"You hypocrite!" laughed the Demon of Fear, sounding about ready to break down himself as tears of mirth ran down from his purely crimson eyes. "You're nothing but a hypocrite! Do you have any idea how many people would like to say the same to you!? How many lives you destroyed in the past, the present, the future! Even now, as you're taking your sweet time to threaten and rage and try to injure me, your precious kin is falling deeper into mental instability! Any minute now...any minute now, he will become what we wanted; a tool, a weapon believing himself to be Uchiha Madara incarnate, ready to destroy the world in his father's place!"

Even as Madara's eyes widened in horror and he suddenly disappeared back in the direction of his kin, the Demon of Fear continued to laugh insanely, blood dribbling down from every orifice in his body as he practically sang, "Too late! Too late! Tooooo laaaaaaaaate~~!"

And then he was gone.

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-18-13): -shivers- I forgot how intense that last scene was. How did I ever WRITE that? Especially when I was just 16! -hugging puppy and Tobi'plushy in corner with bucket of extra chocolatey ice cream nearby-

Yahiko was obviously named after Yahiko. Taniwha is the name of some sort of water spirit that I think was actually Native American, but I don't remember for sure so don't quote me. Bakudan is a type of bomb as well as Deidara's favorite food. Michael is the name of the warrior angel in the Bible, which obviously shinobi don't have so I figured a warrior-angel would totally work for Jashin.

O hai, I forgot that totally by accident their codenames spelled out things pertaining to them, haha. Yahiko/S.N.U.K. = snuck (Nagato and Konan sneak around their feelings that we fans all know to be true); Tani/S.K.U.I. = squee (anything involving Itachi leads to a squee, and when you add in awkward!Kisame...); Bakudan/S.M.U.D. = smut (MadaDei has some of the best/most excessive smut I know of); Michael/S.K.U.H. = skank (cut off due to loss of blood from nosebleed~ xD) Also, for those of you who didn't notice the pattern, basically S=semen; U=uterus/egg (adjusted THROUGH SCIENCE by Orochimaru/Kabuto to get desired result); and the other two letters being the initials of the parents. So S.N.U.K.= Semen from Nagato, Uterus/Egg from Konan...et cetera.

SPOILERS: Similarly, the other two future!children would go through such torture from the Demon of Fear. Tani's would be based upon the fact that she's a monster because of her heritage/appearance which would lead to her friends and family abandoning her and it would have happened shortly before Bakudan's bit, then Yahiko's would be after Bakudan's and focused on failing as a pseudo-leader at protecting his family. Yahiko would have been the only one able to break through the Demon of Fear's illusions/words/etc and would have been able to land a fatal blow because his trust in his family would have overcome or some cheesy shit like that. I dunno, I lost the end of those notes, haha.

Here, Tobi is a byproduct of Madara's overuse of Eternal Mangekyo, as the Demon stated; Bakudan would have a similar and also childish (but also considerably bloodthirsty) personality who was super clingy, leading to some hilarious highjinx considering that until after the Demon had done his job Deidara would have been kept at a distance. The personality would have come out beforehand due to some sort of rogue battle I wrote two paragraphs of before stopping. Baku-chan (as he was affectionately dubbed by Tani) had no problem being clingy/affectionate to his parents and would have become an annoying growth in their sides for about a week before retreating, haha. Pretty much everyone except Tobi, Itachi, Pein, and the future!kids would have no idea of where that came from either...so they would be confused as fuck and eventually put it down to a "minor" mental breakdown.

Finally, the kids were each raised in part by their parents, sort of. Yahiko's mother Konan actually managed to survive the suicide-bomb attack against Tobi and had only gone into hiding afterward to protect herself and her village. Michael's "mother" Hidan was dug up eventually and stitched back together so his daughter wasn't completely alone, because Konoha is mushy and stupid like that. Tani was basically raised with/by Samehada, who has an echo of Kisame's soul basically within her since they were so close for so long; although the spirit would have been a bit watered-down at times since his actual soul had passed on by then. Finally, Bakudan was raised by Zetsu, of which I actually had a theory of the two halves being part of Tobi/Madara in some way before it was canon or whatever (I'M PSYCHIC :D).


	6. FFVNaru: Protectors of Yore

The Protectors of Yore

Prolog One:  
A Wind Drake's New Charges

Hiryu concidered herself a rather inteligent Wind Drake, even by her own kind's standards. She was well-versed in everything from language (although many were impossible for her to immulate due to her dragonic maw) to magic (which she could use quite well, although it took too long to charge to be at all practical) to even the humans as a species (well, as much as she could be, given their odd manerisms).

However, when the great Wind Drake Guardian of Tycoon found herself in a place that smelled like neither her own world nor that of her humans Krin and Galuf (Mater Gaea bless his soul), rich with magic and long-destroyed minerals, perhaps a fourth of her original size if not less, she was completely stumped.

With a small huff, Hiryu sat down on the ground in the middle of the flower-colored clearing she had awoken in and reached up with her front claw to gently scratch her muzzle in a very human-like way. Where were her humans? The last she remembered, she had flown off the top of the legendary Phoenix Tower and been re-incarnated as a Phoenix...the dim images of battles flew through her mind nonsensically...something about the final defeat of that nasty sorcerer-tree Exdeath...

"Kyuu," was Hiryu's final decision as she sighed, dropping her paw-like claw to the ground again as her mighty wings drooped. She had no idea what was going on anymore, or if it was just her experiencing it.

After a few hours that felt like mere moments to her meditating mind, Hiryu rose to her four clawed feet and stretched, preparing to fly up into the air and get a better idea of where she was currently staying. However, just as she prepared to take to the sky, the cry of a human child caught her attention.

Blinking her large golden eyes in surprise, Hiryu gently folded her wings back and slowly crept towards the bushes nearby. She used her muzzle to brush aside the branches and blinked again when she caught sight of a young human girl-four years of age, according to her memory of her Lenna's size throughout the years.

Motherly instincts not-so-long forgotten taking over, Hiryu leaned forward and gently touched her scaley nose to the young child's back. There was a mewing sound from the sobbing girl before she turned around, long raven hair flying quickly over her shoulder tinged deeply with the color of the purple streaking the sky when the sun falls to allow the moon's rise. Large and teary lilac-petal eyes stared up at Hiryu with obvious shock which quickly turned to fear as the girl backed away quickly, sobbing words incoherent to even Hiryu's sensitive ears.

Cooing gently at the girl, Hiryu moved forward just enough to make her way fully through the bushes before setting her rear end on the ground, her long and elegent tail wrapping around her back legs innocently.

The girl stared.

Hiryu stared back.

For nearly a full five minutes, Hiryu waited for the girl to calm down enough to get over her fear; within time, just that happened. After a moment of hesitation, the child crept forward a step, then two before she stopped within arm's reach of Hiryu's muzzle.

The Wind Drake version of a chuckle-soft hissing sounds and amused, half-closed eyes-escaped Hiryu and she bowed her head forward so that the girl child's hand bumped against it, right between her eyes. The girl's eyes widened again and she gasped in surprise at the action.

After another chuckle from Hiryu, the girl seemed to gain confidence and crept forward another tentive step, this time reaching out of her own violation to touch Hiryu's smooth white-prisem scales. Within minutes the girl was happily petting all the way down Hiryu's neck as the Wind Drake patiently allowed it.

"Y...you're very p-pretty," the girl said suddenly and with surprising eloquence for her age. Hiryu's molten eyes drifted in her direction and the girl blushed lightly, the pink staining her abnormally pale (like Hiryu's Lenna's) skin so obviously it was absolutely adorable. "U-um, y-you are a girl...r-right?"

Chuckling softly, Hiryu inclined her head, causing the girl-child to smile a bit.

"Good. It'd be r-rude to c-call a boy p-pretty...right?"

Hiryu merely stared at the child with a mysterious Wind Drake smile in place, her lips pulled back from her sharp teeth ever so slightly and her eyes sparkling with obvious mirth.

"S-sorry, I'm being r-rude," the child abruptly appologized, blushing again and glancing away as her hand stilled in the middle of Hiryu's serpentine neck. She turned back to Hiryu and gave another tentative smile. "My name's Hinata. Hyuuga Hinata."

"My nnname is Hirrrryuuu," said Hiryu suddenly, smiling again when Hinata's eyes widened as she yelped and pulled back in shock. "A pleasurrre tooo meet youuu, Hinnnata."

Hinata started shaking in fear, causing Hiryu's motherly instincts to, again, surface. She brought her body lower to the ground and turned down her head ever-so-slightly. "Pllllease, dooo nnnot be afrrraid, Hinnnata," she soothed, aware even as she did so how slurred her voice was due to the semi-foreign tongue mingling with her woefully unaccustomed Wind Drake features. "I shallll nnnot harrrm youuu."

"Y-you..." stammered Hinata, staring at Hiryu with obvious shock and slight awe. "You can s-speak!"

Hiryu chuckled lowly at the proclamation, relief filling her at the obvious fact that Hinata was overcoming her fear. "Yes, I cannn. Buuut I am afrrraid I cannnot dooo so verrry welll. My featurrres werrre nnnot evvolllvved forrr this styllle of commuunnnicationnn."

After a heartbeat, then two, Hinata slowly crept forward again and replaced her hand on Hiryu's scales. She seemed to still be mildly afraid, but was pushing through anyway. Hiryu smiled gently, silently impressed by her courage.

"I...I don't m-mind," said Hinata shyly. "U-um...I...don't speak good, either."

"Youuu speak finnne, Hinnnata," Hiryu assured the child. "Youuu merrrellly nnneed connnfidennnce so that youuu nnno lonnnger stammerrr."

Hinata blushed.

"If youuu dooo nnnot minnnd me askinnng..." Hiryu died off a moment, waiting for Hinata to look over before going on. "Why werrre youuu crrryinnng earrrlllierrr?"

The blush darkened ever so slightly in color and Hinata lowered her gaze again, this time in obvious shame. "Um," she began. A pause developed before she raised her lilac eyes sadly. "Father...h-he s-said that I'm n-not strong enough t-t-to lead my clan." When Hiryu tilted her head curiously, Hinata quickly elaborated. "My family! I-I'm the oldest ch-child of the main branch, so I n-need to be strong s-so I can d-defend it, b-b-but no one'll teach me, a-and they all just guess that I sh-should know this, a-and," tears began to fall down Hinata's pretty face and she leaned forward to rest her forehead against Hiryu's neck, "a-and I d-don't mean t-t-to be, b-but I d-don't kn-now, and s-since Mom d-died, I-I just...I c-can't...!"

Sobbing tore from Hinata's form and she wrapped her arms around Hiryu's neck, thankfully oblivious to the Wind Drake's rising maternal anger. What being, human, Wind Drake, or otherwise, would destroy a child's self-esteem _this much_?! To the point where a child not too long out of the womb would be so afraid and sad due to not understanding her own responsibilities! Oh, if this being ever met Hiryu without witnesses, it was sure to be sorry!

Reigning in her anger and growing bloodlust, Hiryu gently unfolded one of her wings to rest it around young Hinata, a comforting lullaby that all Wind Drakes knew due to their mothers echoing out of the large draconic being's throat. It was meant to soothe, the notes mixing with the Wind Drake's magic much like her humans' bard-selves would to create an aura of comfort so that young ones would develop courage. Hiryu felt Hinata's crying slow, then reduce to sniffling, then completely stop as the girl listened. By the time the song was finished, Hinata was obviously nodding off on Hiryu's comfortable bulk.

"I havve annn idea, Hinnnata," breathed Hiryu gently as she pulled back her wing enough for Hinata to peak out at her curiously. Hiryu smiled reassuringly as she went on. "I havve knnnowlllege offf a specialll abilllity knnownnn as Magic that woullld surrrellly be morrre thannn ennnoughhh tooo helllp youuu achievve the powerrr tooo prrrotect youurrr 'clllannn', unnnworthy though I belllievve they arrre."

Hinata's eyes were as wide as Hiryu's Bartz's strongest shield-metaphorically speaking, of course. "R-really?" Hinata asked with obvious awe. "Magic? L-like...in a fairy t-tale?!" Hiryu inclined her head and a smile split Hinata's face. "Th-thank you, Hiryuu! I...I really app-reci-ate it!"

Despite the slight mispronounciation of her name, Hiryu chuckled and smiled at the newest addition to her family of humans. Looks like she had another young honorary-Drake to take care of...

And, in this strange new world, this was perfectly all right with her.

It was nearly two months into their bi-daily sessions that Hiryu met Hinata's closest cousin for the first time. She was patiently waiting in the clearing that Hinata had dubbed as 'theirs' after that first encounter when she heard not only Hinata's familiar footsteps, but another set of slightly heavier ones. Soon, from her perch on a branch up in a tree, Hiryu watched Hinata and a boy who resembled her faintly with bark-brown hair and eyes the color of a clear sky instead of freshly-picked lilacs like her human's.

"Lady Hinata, what is it?" the boy asked curiously, glancing around the clearing with a blink. "All I see here is a plain clearing..."

"P-please, Nii-san, b-be patient," Hinata said with a slight smile, obviously relaxed around this boy who seemed a bit older than her. Hiryu, unfamiliar with the title, leaned closer and watched as Hinata turned towards her hiding place. "Hiryuu! Pl-please, come out! Nii-san won't hurt you!"

After a breath, Hiryu sighed softly to herself before gently taking flight, maneuvering her wings with newfound gracefulness (it had taken these full two months to fully get used to her reduced size, which was now just a fraction smaller than the Chocobo Boko's) and landing gently behind her human. After clearing her throat, Hiryu watched with amusement as the boy jumped and turned around to gape at her much in the same way Hinata had many times during their first meeting.

"Wh-wha..." the human boy breathed, taking a step back in shock. Hinata giggled at his reaction when she turned.

"Nii-san, this's Hiryuu," she introduced with a comfortable smile. Hiryu smiled gently at the human boy as he slowly lowered from his state of near-hyperventilation when it was obvious how comfortable Hinata was with the Wind Drake. "Sh-she's the one wh-who's been teaching me, um, h-how to f-fight so I can pr-protect our clan..." Hinata blushed lightly at the reminder before she overcame the obvious embaressment to gesture towards the boy. "Hiryuu, th-this's my cousin, N-Neji."

Hiryu bowed her head politely towards the boy, carefully using her magic to browse the young Neji's aura. He seemed innocent and kind, but there was something about his forehead...something harmful...

Gaze turning towards Hinata, Hiryu made a noise of curiosity and gently poked the tip of her nose against the head wrappings placed over the harmful aura. Hinata blushed deeply, gaze lowering in shame, and Neji frowned.

"That's...th-that's where N-Nii-san's...um...m-mark is..." mumbled Hinata so softly it was doubtful that Neji could hear it. Despite that, the boy lowered his gaze, as well, even as he inched a bit closer to Hinata in an obvious attempt to comfort her. "I-it...F-Father gave it to h-him s-so that h-he...w-wouldn't b-betray...me..."

Anger bled into Hiryu's gold eyes and turned them a faint crimson around the edges as she huffed. She had only known this boy for less than two minutes, heard him speak less than one word to her, and it was painfully obvious that he would do nothing of the sort.

"I don't mind," Neji suddenly said, causing Hiryu and Hinata to turn towards him with surprise. The boy looked positively determined, gripping his hands into fists. "If this is what it takes to make sure Hinata-sama is always all right, then I'll endure it."

"Nnno nnneed," Hiryu told the boy with a slight smile as her anger melted away. Neji jumped again and stared with wide eyes, causing Hiryu to chuckle lowly. "I cannn telllll that youuu wouuullld soonnnerrr harrrm youurrrselllf thannn dearrr Hinnnata." Her gaze rested on Neji for a long moment before she leaned back a fraction, her tail twitching around to rest over her back legs comfortably. "Ovverrr time, this 'marrrk' wouuullld shorrrtennn youurrr lifespannn by muuuch, which woullld be a bit counnnterrr-innntuuuitivve. With youurrr perrrmissionnn, I woullld happillly destrrroy the drrreadfulll thinnng forrr youuu."

Neji still seemed to be overcoming his shock at the Wind Drake speaking, but Hinata quickly lached onto the words with wide-eyed determination.

"N-Nii-san, y-you have t-t-to agree!" she cried, laching onto his arm with tearful eyes gazing up at him. "I-I don't w-want to l-lose you t-t-toooo...!"

Almost instantly, Neji's surprise melted away and he quickly wrapped his arms around the slightly smaller form of Hinata, letting her cry into his small chest. Hiryu couldn't help but smile at their obvious devotion to each other.

"Are you sure?" asked Neji quietly, gazing at Hiryu over Hinata's head. The Wind Drake inclined her head silently and watched Neji's gaze dart from Hinata to Hiryu and then back again before he let out a low sigh. His sky-like eyes turned to shine in Hiryu's direction. "Then I'll do it."

And Hiryu smiled. It would appear that she had yet another human to take care of...not that she minded. She could only hope that the two would grow strong enough to survive in their twisted household under her guidence and protection. Now if only she could find out exactly why she was here in the first place...

Prolog Two:  
A Hydra's New Brother

Syldra was a loyal hydra if there ever was one. First, she had been loyal only to herself; easy, simple, done. Then, she had found a young human girl disguised as a boy named Ferris and become loyal to her. When Ferris founded her own pirate crew, Syldra reluctantly allowed herself to be loyal to them as well, although she silently pledged to her Ferris that if these friends changed she would adjust accordingly. Finally, she became breifly loyal to the three warriors that her Ferris decided to be part of her new crew.

Even in death, Syldra was loyal; she allowed her soul to be changed into a summon so that she could aid her Ferris and crew despite the fact that she sacrificed her own peaceful afterlife in the process.

So, when Syldra found herself in a strange body of water, her own body only the size that her head had once been, her first thought was to try and find her Ferris and crew.

For nearly six months, Syldra swam through as many waters as she could, searching for some sign of her dear sister. There was nothing to show for it other than a few narrow escapes from hunters and the saving of a human or two from being hurt and/or killed. Nothing too special, in Syldra's opinion.

Until she caught the familiar scent of a bloodbath not too far from her starting point.

Syldra was swimming towards the scent in a flash, unable to resist. Her loyalty to her Ferris compelled her to try and save as many humans as she could, and even though she might not admit it, she would probably be the same way if she hadn't met her Ferris.

So it was that Syldra found herself quite literally up a creek, staring with dark, resigned eyes at the sight of a good thirty bodies lying, bloodied, in the snowy area. Each was impaled on some sort of ice spear, sometimes more than one, and were scattered around a building with pain and anger and anguish on their faces.

It was at about this time that Syldra caught sight of something that unnerved her greatly. In the middle of this bloody battlefield, there was a human with long, black hair, curled up on him/herself and sobbing loudly. Before she had any idea what she was doing, Syldra was out of the water and half-gliding over the icy snow towards the figure who was luckily close enough to the water that Syldra didn't have to worry about drying out any time soon.

A mewling sound that probably would have seemed more natural coming from a cat escaped Syldra's throat and she leaned forward to nudge her nose against the human's small back. The human gasped loudly and jumped, throwing his (lucky for Syldra, she had a good sense of smell when close enough to the source and was able to identify the human as a boy) arms up to protect his face and whimpering lowly.

"P-please don't hurt me..." the human whispered. Syldra snorted at the thought, half amused and half disgusted. No matter how heartless she sometimes was, there was no way the hydra would ever harm such a small human-or really any creature that small, except maybe fish and deer and the like, which she found rather tasty during her time in this world...

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-20-13): SPOILERS: Boko would have appeared in the desert and ended up with the Sand Siblings. Syldra can speak a bit of telepathy if she chooses to bond to someone, which she would with Haku (who is obviously the one she found); it'd be more like sharing feelings and images and single words than true telepathy, though. No other plans for this story :)


	7. HPNaru: Harry Potter and MemoriesOfSuna

Harry Potter and the Memories of Suna

Summary: Reincarnation fic. Years and years ago, three important siblings died in the middle of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Eventually, they are reincarnated—not as shinobi, but as wizards! Watch as the newly "reunited" Sand Siblings adjust to reemerging memories, make animagus transformation attempts, discover some crazy newly-revived Chuunin-Exam-like tournament, and still try to find some way to help out the friends their original deaths left behind. **Grey!****"****Golden****"****!Trio** **Meddling!But!Kindhearted!Dumbledore** During-HP4 (AU with canon plotpoints), major/constant spoilers, book- and manga-based

**Chapter Zero - Desire-eriseD**

It was at the end of Third Year that Harry found the Mirror of Erised again. He had been aimlessly wandering the corridors not too long after his godfather Sirius had escaped, trying to get over the sick feeling he developed when Sirius's thought and Harry's hope of the two living together was dashed, at the time he found a half-open door on the seventh floor. Curious, Harry paused and debated for perhaps half a second before poking his head into the room.

When he saw the Mirror, Harry spent a minute frozen, staring at it with wide eyes before he ducked out and ran to Gryffindor Tower to get his two friends.

"'I show not your face but your heart's desire'..." muttered Hermione when Harry had dragged both her and Ron into the room a mere hour later. All three were carefully standing just outside of the range where they would see themselves in the mirror, examining it closely.

"Why do you say that?" Ron asked, looking faintly mystified. Hermione rolled her eyes in fond exasperation before pointing at what the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio had thought were nonsense words on the top of the mirror.

"The writing; if you read it backwards and change the spacing, that's what it says."

Then, in a matter-of-fact tone, Hermione repeated her translation of the relettering.

"Dumbledore pretty much told me that when he caught me here First Year," Harry admitted in a low tone. For some reason, the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end and a feeling of dread was pooling in his stomach. "Guys, maybe we shouldn't be here..."

"Are you serious?" Ron asked, looking startled and slightly peeved at Harry's sudden attempt to back out. "You're the one who woke us up and dragged us down here at two in the morning, mate! Why're you suddenly getting cold feet?"

"Because he's right," defended Hermione, giving Ron a stern look. "If Dumbledore said—"

A snort from Ron cut her off. "'Mione, if we _always_ listened to what Dumbledore said, do you think we would've done as much as we have?"

For a moment, Hermione was silent. "Well...no...but—"

"_But_ if we're here, we might as well look into the mirror again!" Ron mulishly said, giving a self-satisfied nod. Hermione hesitated to respond but it was obvious her resolve was quickly wavering in the temptation of knowledge.

Harry had finally dismissed his unease and turned his deep green gaze on the two he practically considered family. "Never mind whatever I was gunna say," he quietly contradicted himself, Ron and Hermione instantly turning their attentions to him. "Why don't we all look into the mirror—together, the three of us? Just this once? Then we'll walk out of here and not give what we saw a second thought, since the chances are pretty good what we'll see won't come true. Agreed?"

Ron instantly grinned and nodded, Hermione pausing just a second before she did as well with an intrigued smile of her own. Harry quickly grabbed both of his friends by the arms, positioning Hermione on his left and Ron on his right, took a deep breath, dragged the two in front of the mirror;

There was a group gasp, and after a dazed handful of minutes the Golden Trio exchanged fearful glances and ran out of the room.

They wouldn't speak of what they saw for a long, long time.

-HP-NARU-  
_OMAKE: What They Saw_

Harry quickly grabbed both of his friends by the arms, positioning Hermione on his left and Ron on his right, took a deep breath, dragged the two in front of the mirror;

There was a group gasp.

"YES! I HAVE MORE FANGIRLS THAN HARRY!" Ron enthusiastically cheered.

"YES! I HAVE LESS FANGIRLS THAN ANY OTHER CHARACTER!" Harry also cheered, high-fiving his best friend.

"YES! I'M IN RAVENCLAW WITH MY TRUE PEERS AND DON'T HAVE TO HANG OUT WITH THESE TWO IDIOTIC AND INSENSITIVE GOOD-FOR-NOTHING FREAK LOSERS ANYMORE!" Hermione cheered with a giddy laugh.

_...(cricket chirp)..._

"...uh...erm...I-I meannnn..." stammered Hermione. She plastered on a stupid grin and tried again. "YES! I HAVE STRAIGHT 'A'S FOR THE ENTIRE TIME I'M AT HOGWARTS!"

Harry and Ron exchanged looks, shrugged, then went back to their oblivious happy cheering. Hermione breathed a silent sigh of relief and tucked her wand back into her sleeve.

Good thing she had studied memory charms over the summer...

**Chapter One - Summertime Memories**

_"What does pain feel like?"_

What?

_"I finally understand...I'm alone."_

Huh?

**"No, stop it! Leave him****—****take me****—****"**

Mum...?

_"I love only myself and fight for only myself."_

Since when?

_"You have the same eyes as I do..."_

Who are you?!

"Don't you _dare_ hurt my brother!"

I'm afraid...

_"When did you forsake yourselves?"_

Don't!

_"Peace under an illusion is not true peace."_

It hurts...

"TEMARI!"

No! S-stop!

**"Kan...kur...o..."**

No more—I can't—!

_**"Gaara?"**_

Brilliant seafoam-green eyes snapped wide open and he let out a gasp, jerking up to sit ramrod-straight in bed, a hand clutching his shirt over his erratically beating heart. What felt like hours slowly drifted by, the boy's heart gradually slowing down as the seafoam color slowly faded into a more familiar, if lighter and slightly blue-tinged, emerald. Eventually, the boy sighed and put his head in his hands, shaggy black hair that for a moment seemed to be a deep red falling around like a short curtain to hide his rapidly paling face from view.

What was happening...?

"BOY! GET UP AND COOK!" snarled the voice of Vernon Dursley from outside the boy's padlocked door. "DON'T MAKE ME COME GET YOU MYSELF...!"

The boy raised his gaze and grimaced lightly, throwing aside his covers and twirling on his lumpy bed to rest his feet on the floor.

It seemed he would have to finally greet the new day.

-NARU-HP-

A little less than an hour later, Harry James Potter was casually leaning against the wall next to the table, unfocused eyes trained sightlessly on the place where his so-called "family" was eating the breakfast he had painstakingly prepared. He was deep in thought about what he had been witnessing at night, about the constant nightmares that were haunting his sleeping and now even his waking hours, echoes of a past he couldn't quite remember. Each image, each sound, each smell and feeling had a certain...hmmm..._texture_ to it, Harry would say if asked—not that he was. His "family" basically ignored his existence, and he hadn't been receiving any letters since he had first arrived in the Dursley home. Briefly, Harry reflected on the chances of Dobby striking again before banishing the thought from his mind.

After all, there were more important things for the so-called "Boy-Who-Lived" to be pondering.

If one were to compare an image of Harry from the start of his summer break to this point in time three weeks later, they would be rather startled in the obvious changes in his appearance. His hair, once shaggy but short and attempted to be managed, had become longer and more wild, gaining a dark reddish hue to the strands that was nearly invisible unless he stood in direct sunlight. Despite being rather tan to start out with, Harry had quickly paled to a color that probably didn't look natural, considering all the time he spent out in the sun, and a rapidly-developing and bewildering case of insomnia left dark circles under his eyes. He had gained a few inches, going from an embarrassing four-seven to a rather taller but still below average five-one, and his body had become less dangerously-thin and more like he had some honest, if sleek and barely noticeable, muscle mass to make him look a bit healthier. But the most stunning and depressing (for some) change seen would be in Harry's eyes—for where once they had been a dark and yet brilliant emerald, they were slowly lightening, now closer to a more normal green with the faintest traces of blue.

And it wasn't just Harry's appearance that was changing, either, he would admit if he were questioned under a truth serum of some sort—which he wasn't. Everything from his habits to his dreams were changing, as well. More and more often, Harry could be seen hovering in the corner of a room, arms folded over his chest and back straight and proud; or sitting with perfect posture on a piece of furniture, ignoring his guardians and giving fierce glares that sent them scampering off more often than not as time went on.

Harry's personality was changing in much more dangerous ways. As more and more time passed without word from friends or acquaintances, Harry was becoming steadily quieter and more introverted, but at the same time more defiant when it came to orders from his "family". It was slightly frightening to them (not that they would ever admit it) when one ordered Harry to clean or cook or do something and received a dead, yet slightly burning glare in response, as the teenage wizard was becoming wont to do.

His newly-found insomnia, mentioned above, was also affecting his personality; Harry was quieter yet more short-tempered as time went on, although it was less the explosive kind of Gryffindor temper others would expect and more the quiet seething kind one would see in a Slytherin scorned. The insomnia was in part due to the dangerous and confusing dreams he had been having, all rather similar to the one featured above and each time causing such mental pain and confusion he would wake up in a cold sweat, his heart beating quickly in fear and anguish.

Needless to say Harry's summer was _not_ going as well as he had hoped it would at the end of the last year.

"WHAT THE RUDDY HELL IS THAT!?"

Thoughts evaporating at the sound of Vernon's howl, Harry jerked slightly in surprise and whirled his lightened gaze towards the source of Vernon's terror, eyes widening when he caught sight of a rather large eagle perched on the kitchen windowsill with a letter in its large, intimidating beak with writing that was distinctly—

"Hermione?" wondered Harry aloud before he made his way to the window. Ignoring Vernon's cursing and shouting, Harry calmly opened the window and gently took the letter from the eagle's beak.

"Thank you," he muttered graciously, tilting his head forward and smiling slightly at the imposing bird. "I...don't know if you're interested, but upstairs through the open door on the right is a cage with a water bowl if you're thirsty...I'll let you out that window in a bit if you want to rest."

The eagle clicked its beak and inclined its head in response before swooping in—taking special care to dive dangerously close to Vernon's head—and out again presumably to take Harry up on his offer.

A minute later, Harry was thrown by the back of his shirt into his room, tumbling end-over-end and hitting the far wall with an "oof" as Vernon's purple face glared in.

"First owls, now birds of prey!" Vernon seethed angrily, his face shining with angry sweat. "If _one more_ of these things shows up during the day, _boy_, I swear to God you'll receive the worst beating of your life!"

"Technically, owls are birds of prey, too," muttered Harry irritably before he could stop himself, rubbing the back of his head and wincing when he put too much pressure on the quickly-sprouting lump there. Vernon literally spat at him and snarled something incomprehensible before he pulled out of the room and slammed the door shut, a series of clicks signifying the locks had been engaged a few moments later.

"...ew," was Harry's reaction as he pulled a face and kicked his leg away, trying to dislodge the spit there without actually touching said spit. After a few more failed attempts, he gave up and just changed his pants into a pair of soft ones that actually fit left over from the previous school year. They had been rather large when he first got them, being a planned gift for Ron before Harry realized how stupid it was to give, but his growth spurt meant that they now fit him rather well.

Settling himself on the bed, Harry opened the letter and read the contents before his eyes widened incredulously.

"...what...the hell?"

Then he quickly read it again:

**Harry,**

** Ugh, I HATE Dumbledore! Hate him, hate him, HATE him! Do you know what he did?! HE BLOCKED ALL OWL POST FROM GETTING INTO OR OUT OF YOUR HOUSE! It's a really advanced charm that incinerates all letters within two feet of an owl at certain checkpoints, and when I sent you a letter yesterday asking why you haven't been responding to me or Ron, I happened to be close enough to a checkpoint to watch it burst into flames! Luckily, I remembered the spell from a bit of light reading I did last year, or else I don't think either of us would have heard from you until we got on the Hogwarts Express!**

** ...sorry for the rant, but that REALLY pissed me off. It's one thing to interfere with your safety in mind, but what use is it to block letters from me and Ron? Does he expect us to send you a letter bomb or something stupid like that?**

** Anyway, now that I've finally found a way to get to you without Dumbledore's charm working (eagle post is rare and the charm has no effect on it), I can tell you what I've been trying to share for the past four days.**

** Since the end of the school year last year, things have been really...weird, I guess is the best word, if not frightening. I have been having these weird dreams, involving-don't laugh-what I think is some kind of other life. They're too...I don't know...DETAILED, I guess, to be anything less than real memories. I sent a letter to Ron about it at the same time I first mailed you, and he said that he had something similar happening to him. We got together and some...really weird things came to light. Is it possible you can get away from the Dursleys soon? Ron and his family were going to wait to invite you until they had their tickets to the Quidditch World Cup, but given the circumstances, Ron and I think it would be better if you got here sooner rather than later. I cut my vacation in France short to talk about it, and Ron spun some story about a promise to you that he would get you out of there as soon as he could, which (luckily) his parents bought.**

** If you can come, send a response with Tessen (the eagle) and Mr. Weasley will come pick you up with Bill, Fred, and George tomorrow at five. If you can't, send a response with Tessen and they'll come anyway.**

**Love,**

**Hermione**

So it was that Harry hurriedly and hopefully penned a letter to his dear friend.

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-26-13): Wow. I literally had no notes for this story aside from: "Traits Exchanged: Harry=Kankuro's hair, Temari's eyes; Ron=Gaara's hair, Gaara's eyes; Hermione=Kankuro's hair, Kankuro's eyes"...whatever that means. Something to do with how close they were with each other? Or something? I seriously have no idea hahaha...


	8. Konoha no Orenji Hokage!

_Konoha no Orenji Hokage!_

Summary: "The Orange Hokage of Konoha!" So if you've been on fanfiction for a while, you might have heard of time travel stories before and probably even read quite a few. Too bad you ain't seen nothin' yet. Two years into his term as Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze-Uzumaki "Konoha no Orenji Hokage" Naruto discovers a scroll passed down from Hokage to Hokage since the time of Konoha's founding. Within it, he finds a jutsu only someone of his power can accomplish-and damn if he isn't going to use it! Watch as Naruto finds himself nearly thirteen years in the past with a few unexpected friends, trying to discover the best way to change things, survive in a world he barely remembers, discover newfound limits to his power, and perhaps most importantly of all...KICK SOME MAJOR ASS! XD **Super!Naruto Time!Travel!Naruto!Sakura!Others Implied!Yuri Implied!Offscreen!Hyuuga!incest Possible!Yaoi** post-/during-series, manga-based, twisted canon

Pairings: Canon (including one-sided), I.E. PeinKonan, AsumaKurenai, HayateYugao, OneSided(?)HinataNaruto, OneSided/PastNarutoSakura, OneSided/PastSakuraSasuke, OneSided/PastKarinSasuke, AS WELL AS KarinSakura, ShikamaruAyame, NejiHinata, UdonMoegi, OneSided(?)JiraiyaTsunade, OneSided(?)ZetsuKonan, AND OTHERS.

**Episode Zero - Forbidden Scroll**

It was in late October when Namikaze-Uzumaki "Konoha no Orenji Hokage" Naruto-Rokudaime Hokage, sole heir to the clans of Namikaze and Uzumaki, sole master of Sennin Modo, the Summon Toads' prophesized Yogen no Ko, Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Youko, and the person most annoyed by all the titles he had gained over the years-found the scroll that would forever change his world. It was lying in a box in the very back of a simple storage closet, being discovered through a simple fluke when the famed leader and hero of Konoha was running like a scared little girl from the wrath of his closest advisor, Haruno Sakura (who also had a lot of titles that SHE was annoyed with and who threatened bodily harm if they were all stated like Naruto's, _shannaro_!).

The box had initially caught Naruto's eye because it was emitting a faint stream of weak chakra that felt eerily familiar, although he couldn't quite identify it. The Hokage only hesitated a moment before giving in to his inate curiosity, kneeling on his hands and knees on the dingy floor, and opening the box.

"What...the hell?" was the extent of Naruto's quiet reaction, gazing with wide blue eyes at the heavily warded scroll lying not-so-innocently on the bottom of the cardboard. The wards themselves were a rather advanced style of Fuinjutsu, with seals the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki had only seen before in books and even one that he'd never even realized _could_ exist. His mind began whirling to decipher them, leaning closer and grimancing lightly when he realized that more than one suggested death to anyone who tried to open it without some sort of key...

"'The Key to the Village'?" read Naruto aloud, blinking twice at the kanji before him. He leaned back on his heels and put on a thoughtful expression, tilting his head slightly to the side in a manner not unlike a curious canine. It took nearly a full minute to pull his thoughts together and look cautiously at the ring on his finger, the one that signaled him as the Hokage. He pondered the idea that had struck him for another few seconds, then shrugged. "Meh, why not?"

With that rhetorical question out of the way, Naruto took off his ring and dropped it on top of the center of the spiraling seal. He had to rapidly blink when a soft blue light enveloped the scroll before fading away, taking the inked seals with it. All that was left on the yellowed paper were kanji that spelled:

_tsal eht fo srehcaeT eht morF  
__,faeL eht fo redaeL eht roF_

It took a few moments for the Hokage to realize that the kanji was backwards and written left-to-right instead of right-to-left, causing him to give a nervous(he could have been seen!)/relieved(thank Kami Sakura wasn't there!) chuckle. He quickly read it the correct way:

"'For the Leader of the Leaf, From the Teachers of the Last,'" he muttered aloud. Any time he would have spent pondering the meaning of the second half of that was interupted by the door behind him slamming open, revealing Sakura cracking her knuckles as her eyes flashed with a dangerous light, "danger!" practically written across her forehead.

"NAAAR-RUUU-TOOO...!" she growled out. Naruto sweatdropped nervously, refusing to turn around and behold the true Demon of the Leaf.

Mayyybe it _wasn't_ the best idea to call one of Sakura's civilian friends (who happened to be a few months pregnant, not that he knew at the time) "the slightly fat one over there"...

.-.-.-.-.

A little while later, Naruto was safely behind his desk in the Hokage's office, nursing a heavily bruised skull and a bottle of Tsunade's favorite sake. He was gazing seriously and silently at the scroll in front of him, innocent backwards-reverse words gazing just as seriously and silently back. The serious and silent temptation to open and read the scroll was seriously and silently great, too. But the serious and silent problem was that Naruto seriously (and silently, of course) was worried about other possible Fuinjutsu hidden seriously and silently within it.

Seriously.

(And silently.)

Finally, the temptation won out with a little help from the sake and Naruto ripped open the scroll, flinching back instinctively and shutting his eyes against any pain that would result from the impulsive action. It was maybe two full minutes later that he finally relaxed enough to open those eyes, blinking a few times when he saw a perfectly normal scroll, again with the backwards writing.

_ustuJ on ukaygiJ egaK ujaT :ustujniK  
__noitpO na si eslE gnihtoN nehw esU roF_

"'For Use when Nothing Else is an Option,'" Naruto read, then felt his eyes widen and heard his voice drop to a whisper when he finished with, "'Kinjutsu: Taju Kage Jigyaku no Jutsu'?"

Bright blue eyes scanned their way down the list of hand seals, fumbling slightly every so often when a kanji was slightly harder to redirect than the others. It was a simple enough series of moves, if slightly long and repetitive, and it seemed to take bits and pieces from the apparent parent techniques...but why was it forbidden?

The warnings he had recieved about Taju Kage Bushin no Jutsu flew through Naruto's mind, hesitantly speaking of chakra exhaustion and problems with underdeveloped chakra coils and a thousand other things that could harm the average shinobi body. Then the warnings he had gleened about Jigyaku no Jutsu, much louder and shouting about possible mental damage and the complete obliteration of memories.

Another bit of subprint, slightly smaller than the rest and nestled upside-down in the top right corner of the page, hurriedly scribbled in correct but slurred kanji, caught Naruto's attention.

_Took ten menchakra All users sentback WORKSdespite impossible  
__Livesoftoomany Too much variable Couldntchangepastrightway  
__DONOTATTEMPT_

Even with years of experience and a higher IQ than many average shinobi (hey, just because he acted like an idiot didn't mean he was one!), it took a little while for Naruto to decipher what the notes were trying to say. Basically, it boiled down to: "This jutsu took the chakra of ten men to make it work. Everyone who used the jutsu was sent back with their memories in tact. The jutsu WORKS even though it should be impossible. The lives of too many (something). There was too much variation. I/we couldn't change the past the way we wanted to. DO NOT ATTEMPT!"

By the rapid tone of the message, Naruto could only assume that the "something" that happened to the lives was death, probably due to the "too much variation" if not the "chakra of ten men". So...it was a time travel jutsu? Like, a REAL time travel jutsu!?

"Whoa," breathed Naruto, leaning back in his chair and slumping his shoulders as about twenty more years of stress was added to his shoulders in the span of a half-second. A jutsu that honestly caused time travel? It was...unreal. Exciting. Tempting.

Dangerous.

A thing like that couldn't really exist. It would destroy everything that was known to be true, be too dangerous in case it was found by the wrong hands. Even with that Fuinjutsu, the chances of it being found were too high for Naruto's liking, and he had a skewed sense of danger as it was-and not in a safe way. So what the hell was it doing in a supply closet?

But those thoughts fled when more thoughts invaded Naruto's mind. He...could go back. He could go back! He could change the past; change everything! He could make sure Old Man Hokage lived, and Jiraiya, and Shizune, and Choji, and Kiba, and Konan, and Gai, and Asuma, and Inoichi, and Raido, and Teuchi-jii, and Haku and Zabuza, and...and...Sasuke...

It was a combination of those wishes that ground Naruto's thought processes to a halt. But if he were to go back and save them...how could he be sure everything would turn out as good as it had? The hard-won peace for his village...would he be willing to risk it for a few good people? What if Madara won; what if he rallied Akatsuki into destroying them, or somehow gained a new super-weapon? What if Sasuke became even stronger and killed more of Naruto's precious people? What if he accidentally killed Sakura or Konohamaru or Tsunade-baa-chan? What if-

The train of "What if?"s ground to a halt as Naruto promptly slammed his face into the desk, knocking some sense of composure into himself. He soon came to a grim decision and tilted his head so that his chin was resting on the worn wood, eyes trained determinedly on the scroll.

Be prepared, Konoha. Naruto was coming back.

.-.-.-.-.

_**OMAKE  
**__**Dear Namikaze Minato...Love Your Future Wife**_

Another bit of subprint, slightly smaller than the rest and nestled upside-down in the top right corner of the page, hurriedly scribbled in the correct hand, caught Naruto's attention. He quickly read what it had to say:

_IF YOU ACTUALLY TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS WHOLE SCROLL, YOU'RE AN IDIOT, PROBABLY BLOND, AND NEVER GOING TO BE AS GREAT AS I AM DATTEBANE! MWHAHAHAHAAAAA!_

_-Uzumaki Kushina_

Naruto's face promptly met the desk.

-.-.-.-.-

_The Japanese Dictionary, Ch.0_

Konoha no Orenji Hokage - "The Orange Hokage of Konoha" Not only is it the title of our story (because I'm unoriginal...^.^;;), but it's also one of Naruto's newer titles within the manga. I like the ring of it, and I also like the fact that orange in Japanese sounds like orenji in English, haha. (-deadpans at self- LAME JOKE ATTEMPT.)

Yogen no Ko - "The Child of Legend" Another of Naruto's titles, but slightly more well-known than his other one. The Child of Legend was prophesied by the Summon Toads (the same ones Jiraiya, Naruto, and Minato could all summon) as being the one who would quite possibly save the world...or destroy it.

Konoha no Kiiroi Senko - "The Yellow Flash of Konoha" The title of Minato, given because of his specialty space-time kunai that allow him to literally teleport from place to place in a near instant.

Akai Chishio no Habanero - "The Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" The title of Kushina, first given because of her old childhood nickname of 'Tomato' and having gained fame because of her (in)famous temper.

Rokudaime Hokage - "The Sixth Fire Shadow" Exactly what it sounds like. In this timeline, Naruto succeeded Tsunade at the tender age of eighteen...maybe just after he turned nineteen. I haven't decided the exact date yet, but it's some time around there and not crucial to the plot, so meheh.

Sennin Modo - "Sage Mode" The form only Naruto could ever completely master, giving a person power over the chakra of the earth itself. It can only be unlocked using a long training method given by the Summon Toads and has a high risk of turning someone into a frog, then stone if used incorrectly. Jiraiya had the most complete form of it until Naruto came around.

Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei - "Summoning: Impure Ressurection" S-Ranked Kinjutsu. Summons the souls of the dead into the bodies of live sacrifices with their memories and any techniques/powers they once had in tact. A simple tag emblazened with a specific Finjutsu implanted into their backs destroys their source of will, but also makes them look less zombie-like, ironically enough.

Taju Kage Bushin no Jutsu - "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique" A-Ranked Kinjutsu. Uses the jutsu-caster's chakra to create many solid copies of him/herself, although generally speaking one good hit will cause them to literally go "poof". If used wrong or by someone without enough chakra, it's likely the user will destroy their chakra coils and/or die.

Jigyaku no Jutsu - "Time Reversal Technique" Unknown-Rank Genjutsu. Puts the target in reverse-hypnosis and forces them to relive memories in detail; normally used by interrogation shinobi, it's one (canon) setback is that the user retains his/her personality, sometimes making information gathering impossible. I added in the fact that it's a Kinjutsu, and has the potential to destroy peoples memories and/or minds, just for fun. :3

Kinjutsu: Taju Kage Jigyaku no Jutsu - "Forbidden Technique: Multiple Shadow Time Reversal Technique" S-Plus-Ranked Kinjutsu. A jutsu of my own creation, it essentially sends the "shadows" of its user(s) through a "time reversal". It's the number one secret of Konoha and knowlege of it only is passed on from Hokage to Hokage-this means Tsunade didn't know it existed, since Sarutobi didn't tell her. The rest of the information on it is a Super-Super-S-Plus-Plus-Ranked Secret and will be revealed as the story progresses. XD

-NEXT CHAPTER-  
**Episode One - Keep to the Past**

The decision of who to take with hit Naruto hard after a good night's rest thinking thoroughly on what he was going to do. His eventual choices seemed...safe...for the most part...but there were some that made him second-guess his decision.

Naruto, himself, was the obvious first choice of who to go; he was the only one who could actually do the jutsu, what with his own chakra reserves being as large as they were. Sakura was the next obvious choice; she wasn't just his advisor/secretary/number-one medic for long-term missions, but she was also Naruto's closest friend and would probably strangle him in his sleep if she didn't get the chance to go with. So it was that the next morning Naruto made his way to the Hokage office, sealed it completely with a variety of jutsu, then quietly informed the girl of what he found.

Sakura listened calmly for the long and drawn-out explaination, as well as what Naruto had so far decided about what he wanted to do, why he wanted to do it, and who else he wanted to take with. Then she promptly hit him over the head and told him to stop over-thinking things before carefully correcting a few of his decisions.

The next choices in who to go with were slightly less obvious. Naruto, being Naruto, was quick to say the Konoha Twelve-turned-Eleven-turned-Nine-turned-Twelve(aga in) plus the Sand Siblings and the remaining Team Senseis and-

-and was promptly hit over the head by Sakura. Naruto whined for a few moments before he quietly suggested Shikamaru, Sai, Hinata, Neji, Gaara, and Kankuro. Sakura knocked out Shikamaru, reminding Naruto that his wife was expecting, and also reminded him that Gaara was Kazekage and Kankuro led the Suna ANBU forces. Naruto pouted before grumbling that he was Hokage and still going, causing Sakura to roll her eyes to the ceiling before assuring Naruto they would send an owl and request a meeting with the Sand Siblings. They could decide for themselves, she reasoned-oh, and Shikamaru could be let into the plans in case something went wrong, but wouldn't actually come with. Naruto quickly agreed.

And then came the harder choices.

After the Fourth Great Shinobi War was done, Naruto found himself swamped with unlikely new allies from various backgrounds and villages wanting sanctuary and even, in the cases of some, to join the ranks of Konoha Shinobi-dom. Many of the shinobi were feared and hated throughout the land, but used to fear and hatred from people both known and not, Naruto deemed that it was necessary to give them a chance at least. All refugees were given a thorough mind-scan from Ino, who had taken over her father's position in the Interregation Corps. after his death, and if their intentions were clear they were allowed into the city for servailance. The general rule was two months of ANBU following doggedly before the following lessoned to occasionally for another three months, then the people were given free reign as a Konoha civilian.

Ninja, on the other hand, were often employed much quicker. There was a tendency of refugee shinobi to be impatient about undercover missions, so after three months of various loyal Konoha ninja of all shapes and sizes following, they were deemed either safe or not and delt with accordingly.

For once, it was Sakura that posed the first suggestion. Karin was an instant choice. Naruto couldn't help but hesitantly agree. After Sasuke had nearly killed her to get to Naruto, Karin's ties with the ravenette broke-and attached to her savior, Sakura, who spent days and nights relentlessly working on the redhead's physical and mental wounds. The revealation that Karin was actually a member of the Uzumaki Clan and, thus, related to Naruto through his mother solidified her place in Konoha...along with her position as Sakura's lover. It was rare to see one without the other, inside or outside of their work, and extended missions were few and far between because of the wrath the assigner would face from the one or occasionally both halves of the pair.

Naruto posed the second suggestion-his most trusted spy, none other than Zetsu, ex-member of the Akatsuki. The plant-man had mysteriously appeared after neglecting to show up at the final battle as promised to Madara (who shouted his fury to the heavens and swore vengence on the bipolar man until Naruto forced him into battle), his black half cursing about security while his white half reminded, er, himself (the whole situation still confused the hell out of Naruto to tell the truth...) that it was too close to war time to expect a pleasent welcome for normal shinobi, let alone a member of the Akatsuki.

Naruto had just stared blankly at the man, unsure of what to do but prepared to fight if need be, then felt himself fill with shock when Zetsu revealed he had appeared to lend his assistance to Konoha. His white half lightly explained that his loyalty had been with Konan, not Madara, for as long as he had been within the Akatsuki. When Konan had died, his loyalty had died-and, growled his black half, turned into hell-raising hatred towards Madara for killing the one he spent a good part of his life protecting. Naruto, understanding the loyalty to one's 'Precious Person' as Haku had once called it, assured the man he got that much, but was still confused. Zetsu's white half then told Naruto that since Konan had her own loyalty with him before she had died, his loyalty was with Naruto as well-two fold, his black half added fiercely, since the jinchuuriki had killed the one who killed the one he was loyal to.

And thus Zetsu became allied with Konoha, and Naruto's next choice for this mission. Sakura, not being a huge fan of the older shinobi, but understanding why Naruto decided such, reluctantly agreed.

Thus the team was set, the SS-Rank mission papers sent out to their respective people, and the two settled down to wait.

.-.-.-.-.

Four days later, the appointed shinobi made their way to Naruto's office, three of those days allowed specifically for the Sand Siblings to put their affairs in order (not that they were planning on dying...) and come to Konoha and the fourth for recouperation.

Sakura was the first one in right after Naruto, Karin clinging to her arm and looking suspiciously curious, followed closely by Shikamaru and Neji, who both worked regularly within the Hokage Tower and were slightly early. Hinata walked in alone, giving everyone a warm greeting before taking up a spot right next to Neji as per normal, and directly on time Sai appeared in the room. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were a few minutes late-Kankuro loudly blamed Temari, Temari blamed Kankuro, and Gaara blamed both of them before making them shut up.

Zetsu was nowhere to be found, but Naruto knew from experience the odd man was probably in the wall either directly behind him or directly across from him, keeping a look-out for intruders while simultaniously listening intently to what was going on. After taking a few deep breaths, Naruto explained the situation.

The results were actually rather amusing.

"Holy shit," Kankuro blurted out as soon as Naruto had fallen silent, his sister mechanically nodding in agreement. Hinata squealed in surprise and looked like she was going to fall into her old habit of fainting without warning before she suddenly whirled towards Neji and began enthusiastically explaining things she wanted to change, sounding curiously childish, Karin doing the same with Sakura, while Neji himself took after Shikamaru and looked half-calculating half-shocked into silence. Zetsu poked his head out of the wall above everyone's heads and gazed unnervingly at Naruto, while Sai and Gaara merely gave Naruto near-identical inquizzitive looks.

"And all of us are going with you?" Sai asked, tilting his head slightly. Naruto smiled slightly and sadly before shaking his head, causing both Karin and Hinata to fall suddenly silent.

"We're not sure if it's even going to work, so while we're informing all of you, not everyone is going," he explained solemnly. "Sakura and I have already agreed that we are going no matter what, and we made the decision that Shikamaru and at least one of the Sand Siblings should probably stay behind to make sure everything is running smoothly in our absense-possibly indefinately."

There was a sudden weight in the room and everyone suddenly turned somber at the words spoken by the Rokudaime Hokage.

"I'll stay," Temari quietly suggested. When Kankuro stared at her with wide eyes and Gaara frowned deeply, the female sibling gave a small, knowing smile. "You two need to go back much more than I do. Imagine your younger selves compared to now...and then imagine mine. At least I don't need to be shocked into wanting to treat Gaara more like a sibling."

Kankuro subtly flinched, but Gaara's eyes gleamed understandingly and unaccusingly before he slowly inclined his head.

"Thank you, Temari," he softly said. Temari's smile widened and she carefully hugged Gaara; it was a sign of how much Gaara had matured over time that he hesitated barely a moment before hugging back. Kankuro grinned slightly and sadly at his sister a moment later.

"Thanks, Temari," he said in a parody of his younger sibling. Temari chuckled and nodded, pulling away from Gaara and moving towards Shikamaru, who seemed knowingly amused by the whole affair.

"Of course, you all can choose not to take this mission," added Sakura with a pointed look at her girlfriend. Karin instantly rolled her eyes and wrapped Sakura's shoulders in a hug.

"And leave my flower alone?" she rhetorically asked before giving a rather unladylike snort. "Not a chance! You're not getting rid of me that easily, Sa-ku-ra!"

Sakura smiled at her lover, shoulders visibly drooping as tension no one knew she had drained away. Few were aware of how much Sakura had come to depend on Karin for support, but it was obvious to Naruto, who smiled knowingly at his old friend.

"Of course I'll come!" Hinata said strongly, gazing steadily at Naruto. At her side, Neji nodded as well, glancing at his cousin for a moment before looking back again.

"I will follow you until the end of the world, Dickless-Hokage-sama," Sai announced, earning a startled giggle from Hinata and Temari while the guys looked pained and Sakura and Naruto exchanged exhasperated looks.

"Zetsu?" Naruto lightly asked. Zetsu's head disappeared from above the wall and he rose from the ground next to Naruto, both of them as well as Sai and Sakura ignoring the startled looks/sounds from their fellows.

"Of course," Zetsu's white half said calmly before his black half growled, "**so long as I get to go after Madara. Revenge should be all the sweeter a second time...**"

"Wait, who said the plant freak was coming with us?" Kankuro asked, then yelped when he was slammed over the head by Temari. "Ouch! Temari, what the hell was that for!?"

"Naruto is leading this expedition," Gaara answered instead of his sister, quirking a brow at Kankuro. "He gets to decide who comes with."

It was obvious Gaara had no animosity towards the last surviving member of Akatsuki (save Hidan-who didn't count), the ones who had once killed him, but then again Zetsu had the kind of feel that made people just want to forgive him. The plant-man was shockingly honest at all times, unless on a mission that directly required he lie, and surprisingly naive when it came to knowledge most people took for granted. Naruto still fell over laughing whenever he was reminded of the time Zetsu asked Sakura what her 'period' was and since it involved so much pain on her part, was it some kind of torture techinque?

"So then it's settled?" querried Naruto, waiting for nods from those around him before he grinned. "Great! So, in order for this jutsu to work, we're going to need to prepare a few things..."

-.-.-.-.-

-NARUTO AND ZETSU (RE)MEET THE AKATSUKI-

Suddenly, Hidan was intercepted; a blur of black and white flew between Naruto and his attack, catching it with a pure black arm clothed in pure white.

A man who could only have been Zetsu had caught the attack with his bare arm, the blade sinking slightly into his skin but not loosing any blood. He had his bright gold eyes narrowed on Hidan, the white side of his mouth a firm line while the black side was snarling openly; he was clothed in a half-white, half-black, long-sleeved shirt (the white side over his black skin and the black side over his white skin), baggy black pants, and simple black shinobi sandals, the odd venus fly trap apparatus their Zetsu normally wore missing in action.

"I don't suggest you do that again," the white side said in a steely voice. "**Or else...**" the black side added darkly, making a growling noise in his throat.

"Oh, hi, Zetsu," Naruto casually greeted, giving the bicolor man a slight grin. "I thought you'd be longer than that."

Older-Zetsu did not turn around, keeping his eyes leveled on Hidan's shocked and slightly angry ones as he calmly responded. "I did, too, but-**turns out Kisame was weaker than I thought**. Well, yes, but not by much...**he's still weaker than expected!** It was just a clone. **Idiot, our clones always have twenty per cent of the person's true power.** Right, but what if we were ordered otherwise? **We'd have been able to-**"

"Zetsu."

"**S**o**r**r**y**," both halves chorused without meaning behind it. Naruto merely chuckled before returning his attention to the gradually-more-shocked Akatsuki.

"Well, now that we've gotten the pleasant bantering out of the way," he said with a slight, easy grin in place, "we can get down to business."

"Like hell!" snarled Hidan, suddenly wrenching his blade from Older-Zetsu's arm. Older-Zetsu tensed just slightly, preparing to move in the way of another attack, but for once the Jashinish refrained; he instead glared openly at Naruto. "Why the fuck should we listen to you? You're just a stupid kid jinchuuriki, seriously! Screw talking-we should just take your demon outta ya right now."

Naruto seemed unphased by the verbal attack. Indeed, he was merely examining his slightly long fingernails, looking completely uninterested. "Good luck with that. But it's just fair to warn you that I'm not the scrawny kid you guys have been tracking for ten years or whatever. I'm bigger, meaner, AND," a dark smirk lit up Naruto's face, his eyes bleeding red, his pupil slitting, his whisker-tattoos becoming sharper and wispier, "I've got the power of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's nine tails on my side."

The smallest blip of fear leaked from one of the members-or maybe more; no one looked quite ready to point fingers-and Naruto was instantly back to normal, his dark smirk a slight, mischievious grin once more.

"Good!" he chirped brightly. "Now, let's get down to business. I'd like to talk to Leader-sama and his darling girlfriend, in private, if you don't mind. I'll get to the rest of you later."

The jaw of Pein's Deva Path tightened just slightly, but the tightening was gone by the time everyone in the Akatsuki gave him a weary look. He merely inclined his head and the members all trailed out, some such as Deidara and Hidan doing so much more reluctantly than others. Naruto didn't speak again until all the members were gone for nearly a full five minutes, their chakra signatures long missing in action.

"Good, they're gone," Naruto suddenly said, causing Konan to visibly twitch and Pein's jaw to tense again for a moment. Naruto merely smiled slightly and sadly at the two, Older-Zetsu still standing just a bit in front of him and to the side with gold eyes trained unerringly on Konan's form. "Now we can start."

"Start," echoed Pein blankly. Naruto's smile widened and he nodded, making a gesture towards Zetsu that made the man nod slowly back and sink into the floor.

"Yes."

There was a long pause, and Naruto merely stared at Pein until the man spoke again. "Start...what."

"Start discussing your future, of course," Naruto told him as if telling a child why the sky was blue. Pein blinked once, slowly (quite a feat for someone who never blinked as a rule), and Naruto gained a slightly lopsided grin. "And I think it's in your best interest to listen to me...Nagato-san."

In an instant, a kunai was at Naruto's throat, held there by a narrow-eyed Konan. Pein seemed unphased by her movements, too busy staring with minutely wider eyes at Naruto. The blond barely reacted other than to extend his lopsided grin. His voice was full of false hurt when he went on.

"Oh, Konan-san, I can't believe you would try to injure me like that. And after pledging the alligence of Amegakure to my cause, too..." Amber eyes widened in shock and Konan barely held her position, while Naruto casually went on. "Let's not forget dying for my cause, and the protection of Nagato-san's body. Your sacrifice was all that saved it from being desicrated by a driven-into-insanity Madara, by the way. I thought you should know, since, like I said, you died originally and never got to find out."

_Ting_.

The kunai in Konan's hands fell heavily to the floor. Both she and Pein, who was _finally_ showing his shock, were openly staring at him. Naruto's grin dropped and a sober look crossed his face.

"Obviously neither of these outcomes were in your original plans," he said quietly. "And they weren't in mine, either. Part of the reason why I went back was to change them from occuring."

Before either could respond, Zetsu suddenly reappeared next to Naruto and Konan, holding Tobi by one arm. The masked man was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Zetsu-senpai, I'm next?!" he cried out enthusiastically and childishly, causing Zetsu to make a noise of slight amusement. "Is Tobi going to get his fortune told by the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki!? That'd be sooooooo coooooolll! Does Tobi become a famous singer, like Tobi always wanted to, or do I get famous for other reasons?!"

There was a slightly deeper tone to Tobi's voice in the end, but it was wavering, like trying to fight through Tobi's "real" voice and barely losing.

"Not quite," Zetsu said quietly, "**idiot**."

Tobi let out a dramatic little gasp and hopped a bit away from Zetsu once his arm was released, putting a hand to where his mouth would be if his mask wasn't in the way. "Zetsu-senpai! It's mean to call people names! _You_ taught me that, remember?"

Zetsu ignored the question and instead turned to Naruto, who was chuckling slightly at Tobi's antics.

"Anything else, Naruto-sama?" he asked.

"No, that's all, Zetsu," said the blond with a slight smile. "Just observe for now."

An incline of his head later, Zetsu disappeared, and almost immediately Naruto's vision was filled with orange.

"Oooooh, your name is fishcake?" Tobi enthusiastically asked. He was jumping up and down in place, a grin obvious in his voice and what could only be called a "smiling aura" surrounding him. "That's cool! Tobi's name means 'kite' and 'jump', 'cause Tobi's really good at jumping! ...at least, I _think_ that's why my name's Tobi. Maybe it's just 'cause 'Tobi' sounds cool?"

Naruto barely stiffled a grin at the childish Akatsuki. "That's interesting, Tobi-kun," he said, clearly not phased by the jumping from first to third person. There was a sense that Tobi was beaming, but the sense was abruptly cut off when Naruto casually said, "If you don't mind, though, may I please speak to Madara-san for a little while? I'll get to you next, promise."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Naruto was abruptly slammed into the wall behind him, a black-gloved hand unerringly gripping his throat attached to Tobi's arm. Or, rather, "Madara's" arm, now.

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (8-28-13): My take on the classic time-travel plotline, started when Zetsu's 1000 clones were first revealed...so, like, 2009. Wow that was a while ago! Hahaha~

SPOILERS: There would be no taking-over-bodies; everyone goes back as they are and would appear in Sarutobi's office kinda randomly. Which would have been hilarious in a serious way since first Sarutobi would have a heart attack but then they would be taken by ANBU and interrogated and shit. Yay! Obitobi theory stands in this one, so it would have been Obito posing as Madara (ironically what was eventually revealed as canon haha). Naruto would go pretty far off-canon, to the point where there would be no Wave Mission for his younger self and instead the elder one went to take care of it himself with permission from Sarutobi; Sasuke wouldn't get the curse mark; Akatsuki would have been neutralized early...etc. Madara would still be the main enemy and Obito would switch between being allied with Konoha and dead-set against it, having been slightly (okay, majorly) brainwashed by Madara after being "saved" and only Naruto's therapy-jutsu being a possible salvation. Also some of the Akatsuki would have defected when it became "tame" (Sasori, Kisame-loyal to Madara not Obito-, Obitobi-sort of-, Kakuzu...maybe one or two more?) and basically become the main enemies, alongside Madara and Orochimaru and Kabuto. So yeah!


	9. Child of the Monster

_Child of the Monster_

Summary: ...? **KisameOC** **Child!of!Kisame** **Possible!Yaoi** pre-Shippuden, manga-based, slightly twisted canon

Pairings: Canon (including one-sided), I.E. PeinKonan, AsumaKurenai, Past/OneSided(?)HinataNaruto, OneSided/PastNarutoSakura, OneSided/PastSakuraSasuke, AS WELL AS Past(?)KisameOC, Past/OneSided(?)JiraiyaTsunade, Past/OneSided(?)OrochimaruTsunade, Past/OneSidedZetsuKonan, PastZabuzaHaku, AND OTHERS.

**Episode Zero – Hated Love  
****"In order to make an apple pie from scratch,  
****You must first create the universe."  
**-Carl Sagan

Contrary to what some fangirls might believe, interesting things such as this often happen on days that are neither one extreme nor the other. It wasn't a boring, average, laze-around-because-there's-nothing-better-to-do day, but it wasn't an extremely crappy, holy-shit-my-life-sucks-get-me-the-fuck-out-of-her e day, either. No, this day was somewhere in between; monotonous as one Hoshigaki Kisame made his way through the streets of a small town known as Sogyo near Sunagakure, besides the facts that he was alone and wearing full Akatsuki memorabilia while on his supposed day off.

The thought made Kisame snort inelegantly, ignoring the looks of fear, horror, and awe (the last mostly from the kids) his cloak and natural appearance gained. Right, day off. In truth, he was just experiencing some down time between missions; his next one was scheduled to start that afternoon, actually, in a mere four hours or so. Itachi had nearly shoved him out the door to explore during that time because the blue-skinned shinobi was getting too restless without anything to do.

Now, although Kisame wouldn't be aware of this, the forces of the universe liked to start things off with chance, luck, and often a bump in the right direction. Thus it was that the sole Hoshigaki didn't notice the person who was the only one not to automatically jump out of his way, a young woman with her head bowed carrying a simple woven basket. And thus it was that the young woman didn't notice him, either, and naturally they—well, bumped.

A noise of surprise escaped Kisame and he blinked, glancing down in front of himself and widening his eyes when he saw the figure that had fallen to her knees, shaking her head. He could really only see a mess of dark purple hair trimmed rather short and jaggedly, on top of a lithe female body dressed in a soft green sundress, until the young woman grabbed her basket and scrambled to her feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," she said with a slight bow before raising her gaze again to smile sheepishly up at Kisame. He stared at her thin face and faded blue eyes as she at least seemed completely unfazed by his monstrous appearance. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I'm afraid. Are you all right?"

"I'm…fine," Kisame managed to say without sounding like a total idiot. Okay, that part was a lie, since there was a substantial pause in between the two words and his voice was more hesitant than natural, but he wasn't used to people completely ignoring how he looked when they first met. Well, except Itachi, but that man was a walking series of conundrums and contradictions, so he didn't count.

Then Kisame's brain kicked back into gear and he slowly asked, "Are _you_ all right?"

"Oh, I'm perfectly okay," chuckled the woman, shifting the thin-fingered grip she had on her basket. "Just a little tumble. Happens all the time…" She drifted off and squinted as though trying to figure something out about him. "You must be new here. Nearly everyone else knows me and my horrible habits."

Kisame blinked, once more surprised. He would have thought his blue skin or the Akatsuki cloak would have given that away. "Habits?"

The woman's slight smile turned into a full-blown grin that showed a bit too much of her gums. "I tend to not be able to notice my surroundings unless I focus, and I have a habit of running into things when I go anywhere, hahaha."

"Oh," was Kisame's slightly amused response, complete with a small grin that he hoped didn't reveal too many of his teeth. The woman suddenly stopped laughing, blinked, then lifted herself onto the balls of her feet and stared curiously at his mouth. Kisame instantly shut his lips and raised both eyebrows in mute shock.

"Were those triangle-y?" asked the woman with amusement, curiosity, and a faint trace of excitement. As Kisame's mouth dropped open slightly in disbelief, she leaned slightly closer and made an "ooo"ing sound of interest. "Wow, they are. Like a piranha or something. Although you strike me as more of a shark guy, to be honest…" She died off and a blush alit to her face as she pulled back, suddenly mature again. "I'm so sorry, I'm being rude and I don't even know your name."

It took another couple of seconds for Kisame to regain himself, at which point he felt a much firmer grin than before pull at his mouth. He held out his large, calloused hand for the woman to take. "Hoshigaki Kisame, Miss."

The woman giggled lightly and took his hand in her much smaller one, grinning in return when he kissed it like the gentlemen in novels he had read always did. "Kotowari Sakuya. Nice to meet you, Kisame-san."

And thus began their strange relationship.

-.-.-.-.-

The rest of the meeting above had simply been Sakuya requesting that Kisame go grab some food with her and he semi-reluctantly agreeing, mostly because of what it would do to her reputation if she were seen with an Akatsuki member, let alone Hoshigaki Kisame Kirigakure no Kaijin, infamous all over and with the highest bounty of any Kiri ninja alive.

But Sakuya didn't seem to realize who he was or care, and during their whole hour-long meal at a small family restaurant Sakuya praised for their inarizushi and oshizushi ((two common kinds of sushi)) she never once commented on his skin tone or obvious alliances. She had cheerfully said goodbye to him when they were done eating and suggested he come and visit as soon as he was done with his "ninja-ing" (yes, that was an exact quote from her) so they could speak again.

Two weeks later, Kisame found himself aimlessly wandering Sogyo, his eyes straining for some sign of purple hair. It took him a little over ten minutes to locate his new acquaintance, who was sitting in the same shop they had been at before munching on more sushi. Her whole expression brightened when he sat down next to her, and she hurriedly waved down the stand's owner to bring over some more sushi. They soon degraded into mindless chatter, most of it done by Sakuya...

-END-

MKL's Post-Production Notes (9-10-13): Thought I had more to this story than that. Huh. Anyway, just wanted to throw it out there, because KISAME NEEDS MORE LOVE :D

SPOILERS: Sakuya is definitely civilian, first of all. This meeting would have happened about six years pre-Shippuden, four pre-original!series, and the relationship would build slowly for a ninja but quickly for a civilian-about six months. Sakuya would have gotten pregnant about four months into the relationship but Kisame would have to leave on a long-term mission before she got up the guts to tell him. By the time Kisame would get back, Sakuya would have left the small village to move to one closer to Ame and died. Unknown to Kisame (and much of the village of Sogyo), Sakuya had a single daughter named Taniwha (Tani for short). Tani would have used her mother's last name, Kotowari, because her mother had told her when she was really small that it would be rude to use something without permission...Tani would have taken that to include her father's last name and Sakuya never got a chance to tell her otherwise. Tani would look normal except the blue skin-no gills, no beady eyes, no monsterous chakra reserves...just a normal kid with a skin condition. But she would have gotten a degenerative disease from Sakuya's family that attacks the eyes and be half-blind by the time Kisame finds her at age 6 (JUST prior to Shippuden). It would have turned into a quest to see Tsunade to fix her eyes and Kisame offering up his loyalty to the medic so he could help/save/protect his daughter and a lot of other mushy shit we all love so much. Eventually this would turn Shippuden into a total AU, of which Kisame would be the main person/character while Sakuya and Tani would be more of a plot device than the actual center(s) of the story.


End file.
